True Love's Curse
by MertleYuts
Summary: True Love is a funny thing, and by funny I mean hateful, manipulative, and downright mean. I am supposed to be running through fairy tales until I kiss my true love and escape from this curse. So what am I supposed to do when "True Love" chose wrong!
1. Grimm's PT

**Okay, so. It's a long story but this story was accidentally inspired by Crimson Tempesta's Reality, which is very good and if you like this then you should totally read hers! Otherwise, I would really appreciate if you would point out any mistakes, or confusion. Or if anyone is interested in being a Beta reader, that would be fantastic! So, without further ado- Enjoy!**

Grimm's PHAIRY TALE Prep.

Grimm's Preparatory High for the Advancement and Instruction of Realizer Youths, Teaching Adventure, Love, and Enchantment. Otherwise known as Grimm's P.H.A.I.R.Y T.A.L.E Prep.

Yes, I know. Strange.

Don't even try and tell me about it.

So, you're interested now right? What kind of crazy school calls itself Grimm's Phairy Tales? Well, I _will_ tell you that it's a boarding school on the outskirts of a small little historic town in New York State, not terribly far from New York City. But you aren't getting any more out of me on that, we can't have people swarming the school, trying to get accepted because they heard about it in some silly story. Imagine the problems that would cause!

Anyway, it's a large white building with a distinct Victorian air. It's got lots of gardens in the front, and lots of towers and balconies.

The first question they ask you when you apply is-_ What is your favorite fairy tale?_ Tough acceptance levels, right?

You want to know what my answer was?

The Little Mermaid.

And no, not the Disney version. Jeez. No, the real version. The one where the prince, whom this girl decides is her true love, goes off and marries another girl. I like it because I have never really believed in such a silly thing as true love. That story shows just where blind faith in something like that gets you.

Cynical?

I like to think so.

And no, don't start up with the questions about, What's a person who doesn't believe in true love doing in a high school called Grimm's Phairy Tales?

I was getting to it thank you!

Now, people like me, humans to be general, cynics to be vain, are quite necessary. You know that word Realizers in Phairy? It's a profession. As in helping people realize their happily ever afters?

Jeez, you iggs can be so dense.

Igg as in ignorant people, since you seemed to be wondering… this is going to take a while…

Right, so our job, once we graduate of course, is to help people with their fairy tales. There are teams, normally 2 to 3 people, one human, one fey.

Oh dear, looks like we lost a few. Okay, lets back track so the people who fell off the bus can try and get back on, lets try and keep up here people, alright now?

Fey- magical beings in general, there are elves, Faeries, fairies, pixies, gnomes, goblins, dwarves, giants, etc. They come from the magic world which is connected to Earth in a few places, but the only one you need to know about is Grimm's PT. That's why the school is actually much bigger than just the dinky little Victorian building. We are actually a huge castle in the magical world. It does cause some discombobulated feelings going to certain classes though.

And to answer the second question, yes, people have fairy tales, even in NYC. From the hickiest hick-town to the busiest metropolis, anyone can have their own fairy tale. And it's our job to make sure that it all goes according to plan. What, you really think fairy godmothers just pop up because you cry a little? Like they have a special twinge in their heart that goes off when they are needed? Their left eye twitches? Or did you just never consider that maybe you pulled your fairy godmother away from whatever she was doing at the time to come cater to your whims? There is intensive planning and observation that goes into the out of whack fairy tales.

Of course, most fairy tales just go on their own happy sparkly way, but far too many are sluggish, stubborn, or too open to free will. You have NO IDEA how much easier our jobs would be if we could just revoke your free will.

Of course it's not MY job yet, but I'm in my senior year so your happily ever after will be in my hands soon enough.

Makes you feel pretty confident, don't it?

Any way, what was I talking about? Grimm, you and your stubborn obliviousness! See where you have gotten me? I don't even know what I was saying and now you will just have to go on never knowing- right, got it!

So teams of 2-3 human and fey. Now the fey are were you get most of your magic and happy bubbly love, and us humans are necessary to keep a lid on the bubbles.

Real important right? Well yeah, we are.

We help keep the magic and the fairy godmothering subtle, not to mention help keep the fey from just making everything oh-so-perfect right off. Where is love if you don't work for it? As you know I have no faith in True Love, and so a little drama is necessary to make the happily ever after stick.

We are glue, magical glue.

Of course this is all a terrible stereotype. There are many fey who are much more down to earth and all of us humans know someone who would just as soon have everything flowers and rainbows. All that matters is that we go into teams with a reasonable balance of both views. Don't worry, us humans are still necessary because we know a little more about how our world works and the fey know more about how their world works so we can all work between the both of them.

Yes, don't be so self centered, the magic world gets their fairy tales too! More than ours as a matter of fact, and they get to go a little more fantastic than our do.

We don't exactly have any dragons now do we?

Anyway, now that we have cleared all of this up, maybe we can get to the more interesting stuff?

Namely, me?

My name is Elias Fiera Dairson, I know, my parents were a bit eccentric, but they were both realizers too, what do you want me to say? But if you try and call me that mumbly jumbly mouthful I swear I will hunt you down and sic the biggest, meanest, hungriest dragon I can on you.

You may refer to me as Elle (pronounced like L thank you very much, as if someone like me could be called Elly. Dear Grimm, no.) Or Your Fantastic Supreme Lordship of Both Earth and the Magical World. I am quite fine with either.

I am a Senior at Grimm's PT majoring in GMA with some IGA mixed in.

Oh dear, lets back up the bus AGAIN because we just lost some more.

GMA- Godmother Aid

IGA- Intelligence Gathering and Analysis

What this means is that I am not training to be a Godmother, just to help one, namely my best friend and future partner Jasmine Rossetta Kuwal. It's pretty much just the fey who are GMs, them being better with magic and what(not that humans don't have any, all it takes is a wand and some magic words, fey just have a better feel for it). Being a GMA, I am sort of the behind the scenes. I help choose(and in some cases design) whatever dresses our "princess" is going to be given, decide whether Jasmine should appear in a bubble or just as a kind sales lady, I make sure the coach or limo is on time, I make sure a slow song is played at the right moment… it's a pretty sweet gig.

The IGA is sort of spying on the target, makes you feel real safe, right? But it helps to determine if our person would faint at the sight of magic, if they get really nervous around horses or blood, what color they look best in, ect. And though there are other more specialized teams to get the real details, it helps to know what they are telling me and to pick up on things on my own.

Got it? Good, because I am about to throw a few more terms at you (a deadly phrase to hear in any classroom).

PAB-Prince Aid and Back-up, the people who deal with princes and guys who aren't behaving quite right, or are in danger of stabbing themselves every time they swing a sword, these are the guys who help them.

Annies- These are the people who have to know pretty much every fairy tale by heart since they are the ones who analyze the target's events to determine which fairy tale we are dealing with, or if it is even really a fairy tale at all. The spotters aren't right all the time.

Spotters-People who wander around both worlds looking for fairytales. They can start up a conversation with anyone and have a knack for spotting romance. Supposedly it hangs around people like a rosy glow, but I've never been real good at spotting it. Three guesses why…

FUs- I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR A WORD. They get enough teasing about it. Most people just call them the Foos to be polite. This is the follow up team, the people who go back and regularly check up on the target to make sure their happily ever after is sticking properly. And if I see you snickering at them again I swear I will go find that dragon! Grimm, the maturity levels are fit to amaze!

Storytellers- Obviously there are not a lot of these. The Grimms were in this category of course, as well as many other fairytale writer and recorders, Hans Christian Anderson for example. And if you think that just any old person who writes a story can be a storyteller, you would be terribly wrong. First, you have to understand, a talent for telling generalized stories has dropped in the last hundred years or so, and if hundreds of people are going to experience your fairytale, it can't exactly be incredibly specific now can it? It also must be exciting.

Duh.

The Supreme Council decides whether it is good or not, and if it is good enough to be entered into the Compleate Collection of Fairy Tales, an unbelievably large and magical book kept under lock and key that influences both of our worlds. Any story that is entered there becomes a true fairy tale and thus the selection process is intense. The most famous one you might know from recent times is Walt Disney. Yes, he was a realizer and a storyteller besides being world famous. He entered the most fairy tales into the CCFT since the days of Grimm. Of course you have to ignore the fact that the greater part of his material is not exactly original, it is still different enough to be considered a separate tale. It's pretty impressive.

Now that we have sorted that out, may we return to the matters at hand?

Finally!

**So, you like it? If you do, I would love to know hint hint just shoot me a reply. Need me to explain anything? Just ask and I will be sure to fit in the answer in the next chapter!**


	2. Revenge

**Hullow, here's the new chapter and all! It's really still some background info but it is more related to the story than last chapter. I promise the plot actually starts in the next chapter. Of course these are fine right? You could live and breathe off of sarcastic background chapters, right? Of course. Again, thanks go out to Crimson Tempesta for being so awesome.**

Revenge

Now, at the moment it is some time in the middle of the night. I have managed to sneak into the library, a large two story room with more books than you can shake a stick at. Not that you can see any of them as it is currently lit by my poor solitary candle illuminating all of me, a desk, and a mountain of books.

I don't want to hear anything about the candle.

Oooohhh, why not a flashlight?

Iggs, electronics don't work in the magic world and especially not on its border.

So, I am reading by the flickering light of a single white candlestick. Wax is dripping down its rapidly shortening length as I turn the page to a heavy and old book written in spindly font with dark pictures. All the while flipping a long pale stick between my fingers.

Suspicious, no?

Well, actually, it's suspicious for good reason. The book I happen to be skimming through is a book of curses, and the thin stick is a wand for the intention of acting upon said curses. Curses I intend on using on a certain Donovan Erebus, other wise known as the bane of my existence, the most horrible elf on Earth and elsewhere, the most vain, stupid, arrogant, heartless, cruel (do you think I have abused the thesaurus enough yet?) annoying person I know.

His cocky smirk keeps popping up in my head as I consider a tongue-tying curse, though end up deciding I want a little pain besides the embarrassment. Don't worry, I don't go quite so far as to consider the shrunken head curse… for too long.

I guess this requires some explanation.

I do not just go about cursing any one I don't take a fancy to, though that is putting my feelings for Donovan lightly. Pure and utter hatred might be closer… close enough at any rate. There's a long complex story behind it, which of course you are just dying to hear, and I am just dying to tell you.

Since the first day I started going to this school, Donovan has been a thorn in my side. It started off with me just thinking him a numbskull who was far too full of himself. We have a competition of sorts going on, you see. He may be a complete jerk, but he happens to be a jerk with very high grades, he also happens to be studying the same things I am in, in the same classes as me, which does nothing for his big fat swollen head.

I get very high grades too. Suffice to say, things get intense.

I will remember and value each victory dance I earned over him till the day I die.

Anyway, Sophomore year, some foolish girl decides to tell him she thinks he's handsome. You can imagine the effects on his ego.

Thus began the era of Donovan the Ladies' Man.

If I had a penny for each girl he kissed and promptly dumped, I would have an awful lot of pennies.

Anyway, I won't cause your ears to bleed with anymore descriptions of him. Instead I will introduce the next character in this terrible drama.

Jasmine Rossetta Kuwal.

Yes, I realize I have already unofficially introduced her, shut up and let me explain.

Jaz is the nicest person, faerie or other wise that you will ever meet. She is always bubbly and cheerful, I have never heard her say a bad thing about anyone. She is smart and pretty, constantly thinking of others, and EVERYONE loves her. She is my partner to be once we graduate and is studying to be a GM. I am sure she will be incredible, and of course I'll be right behind her as her GMA so you know no one will be better.

What is that look for?

Anyway, in spite of my best attempts to dissuade her and without any consideration of her own best interests, Jaz fell for the Donovan charm. Or perhaps curse would be more appropriate.

She suffered a crush on him all through her Sophomore and Junior year, the poor dear. All the while I was trying my very best to convince her of his unworthiness. Anthony Haltzer, who in my opinion is the hottest and most gentlemanly guy in the entire school, is much worthier. Of course he is mine so…

Anyway, halfway through this year, Jaz worked up the courage to ask him out, and Donovan Erebus, the biggest flirt I have ever had the displeasure to know, the boy who has never said no to a pretty girl, turned her down flat. He said, loudly and in front of the entire lunch crowd, that he had no interest in her at all and then returned to his lunch like nothing had happened, completely ignoring poor Jaz as she ran off in tears. I comforted her, reiterated as I have told her a thousand times that he was totally not worth it, and began plotting my revenge on the… the… words are not strong enough.

If he had just said no, politely and quietly, I would have jumped with joy. If he had said yes and just went out with her once I would have been content. I could even have dealt with the source of all that is foul in the world as my best friend's boyfriend (there would just be some extreme avoiding to practice and barf bags for anything resembling romance, not that I think he is capable of it). If he had done any of those things I would have called him a few choice names and been done with it. But to grin as you turn a girl down, to not even look guilty as she runs off crying, and then to look at me and smirk? Ohhh, he was in trouble.

My next class with him was jousting and swordplay. A very useful skill to have in terms of self-defense. Also terribly useful for revenge if you take a disliking to your partner.

As soon as the teacher told us to grab a partner, I did something I hadn't done since finals of Junior year. I grabbed Donovan as my partner.

He gave me what he must have thought was a terribly charming grin suggesting something along the lines of pleasantly surprised as I grabbed his wrist and pulled him as far away from the teacher as we could get, I just thought he looked constipated.

The teacher was later to describe our duel as one of the best and most frightening examples of swordsman ship he had seen in a long while, even though I ignored him when he told us to stop. He blew the whistle and I kept banging away with my practice pole. He blew harder and by that point the other students had begun to realize I had a bone to pick. They gathered around to watch, which served the added bonus of shielding us from view, besides that the whole school would witness Donovan's defeat.

Donovan had realized very early on that I was not just pairing up with him for experience or whatever other reasons ran through his mind. I'm pretty sure after the first couple bruises I landed on him, he had figured out that my intentions were not in any way shape or form good for him.

That's not to say that he didn't land quite a few hits on me. In fact, rightfully, he should have won that match. He did disarm me.

Not that I cared much for the rules by that point.

Using some of the martial arts taught to us in Sophomore year but mostly just brute force, I took him down and proceeded to attempt to knock his pretty boy face in.

Call me violent, say I was over reacting, I don't care because if you were in my position I know you would want a piece of him too. Nobody insults my friends like that and gets away with it. Besides, it wasn't like he didn't stand a chance against me.

Unfortunately, he still had the stick in his hand and after some wrestling and me earning a few more bruises, he got me pinned and struggling for air with the pole crushing my windpipe. When the teacher pulled him off of me he had a smirk on his face and all he said was, "Nice match, but I still beat you."

He had no empathy! Probably didn't even realize why I had decided to give him the beating! My only consolation was that I had managed to spilt his eyebrow and land quite a number of hits. He may have won, but I think I may have walked away the better for it.

Of course I got in trouble, we both did, but nothing too serious. Neither of us would admit who started it, ahem him ahem, and the teachers all like their best students too much to punish us severely.

But that is the story of how I ended up here, researching curses in the dead of night and seriously considering summoning a jelly monster to eat him. It had a certain appeal to it. But where would I get all the jelly?

**So, that's Donovan for you. I'm sorry if you don't like him, I have a sort of thing for jerk guys in books so too bad for you, get over it. Though really, he's not as bad as Elle describes him. He's not continually smirking and whatnot, that's just her bias and she IS telling the story after all. He'll get better.**


	3. Whoops

**Wow, two chapters in and this is already like my most popular story! Thanks all! Again, Crimson Tepesta is awesome! And as I promised, plot! How exciting, right? I know it's short but that's just becuase the next one is probably going to be really long.**

Whoops

After finally deciding that no matter how much I liked the idea of a jelly monster eating Donovan it just wasn't practical, I skim through the rest of the heavy book and soon replace it with another smaller but even older looking text. I flip through the pages, considering the pros and cons of each curse-

Turn a prince into a frog- well, he was in no way shape or form a prince.

Poison apple- too many girls willing to kiss him.

Turn him into a handkerchief- I might accidentally blow my nose on him (good for revenge but requiring that he touches my nose…)

Curse of death- I might actually get in trouble if I killed him.

Eaten by a giant three headed dog- similar problem

(Are you as impressed as I am that I was able to find these in the SCHOOL'S library?)

Shrunken head Curse- Did every book have a different way to do this?!

Curse of ugliness- sounded promising… wait, what was-

I flip quickly back to the last page. True Love's Curse.

Sounds pretty awful to me.

All of the other curses were remotely familiar but…

Used only in cases of troublesome princesses… blah blah blah… identifies true love… blah blah blah… trapped in fairy tales until true love's kiss… stuff I can't make out…

Hmm… interesting. Not to use on Donovan, Grimm no. No need for him to find his true love, if such a thing existed of course. But you would think some of the history teachers would mention a curse that trapped princesses and forced them to find their true love.

Probably didn't want to stir up doubt about all of their True Love propaganda. If it got out that they had to force some people to find their true loves well… it actually wasn't all that different from any other fairy tale, but this sounded worse to the uninformed public.

I glance at the sketches and frown because it looks like all of them have been scratched out or faded away.

Now that isn't suspicious. Sarcasm.

I flip the page and glance at the flowery writing telling the words to the curse.

On a whim, I start whispering the poem to myself.

Probably not the best idea with a wand in my hand but there were a lot of requirements for the curse that I hadn't met, midnight for example, it was like one or two in the morning by that point, so I was all right.

_Apples of poison, wheels that spin,_

_You'd best be wary of all of them,_

_For if to eternal sleep you fall,_

_No prince will come or heed your call._

_Stubborn, loveless, lost to time,_

_You say no heart, 'll steal from me mine,_

The clock began to chime somewhere in the background, does this sound foreboding to you? Because it sure is.

_Love must come though you seek it not,_

_There is one with whom you are besot, _

I stop as soon as I hear the third chime. Was it really that late? I think with a sprouting sense of dread. I stop reading when the fourth sounds, but the problem I realize is that I can't! The words just keep erupting from my mouth and I'm not even looking at the page anymore. Obviously by this point I am freaking out.

Six… Seven…

_But true love's kiss, as all must know,_

_Will free you of your certain woe,_

Surely it was just eleven, please Grimm tell me it was only eleven!

_But if you chase true love away,_

_Or if your heart you do betray,_

Ten… eleven… the moment seems to stretch on forever until I'm about to breathe a sigh of relief.

DONG…

The dooming sound seems reverberate around the library until my ears ring. How can such a small clock make such a loud sound? The bells seem to be rejoicing that they have just sealed my fate.

Cursed bells. Cursed clock. Cursed ME!

No! Surely I hadn't met all of the requirements, but as I spew out the last verse…

_The choice you make is yours alone,_

_But sad it is, a heart of stone._

I'm not so sure.

As if just to prove me correct in my pessimistic thoughts, the book starts to glow. A deep thudding vibration seems to start up from the floor until my head and the entire room is shaking.

Cursed bells. Cursed book. Cursed… EVERYTHING! And cursed Donovan for making me read that cursed book in the first place! It is all his fault! That's right, his!

The room starts to spin, I have no idea what's going on. I try to scream but it's like a sneeze that just refuses to happen. I am on the verge of screaming, I am trying, but I'm just not quite screaming. The same thought keeps running through my head.

Why me?

**I promise to write more, especially now that I am finished my AP testing and have more time than I know what to do with! Reviews are always welcome of course! ahem**


	4. Tiny Feet

**There, you see? Longer!**

Tiny Feet

"Wake up."

I moan as I hear an unfamiliar voice.

"Wake up!"

Why in the world would someone be trying to make me move from my nice warm bed?

I hate morning people.

"Ouch!" I shriek as I feel tiny fingers pinch my arm. My eyes jerk open and I find myself eye to eye with a pixie.

Please, please tell me you know what a pixie is. Oh Grimm. You think they're little pretty fairies don't you? With golden hair and pretty little flower dresses? Please allow me to correct you, while I repeatedly beat my head against a wall.

Pixies are about the size of your hand, that is the only thing close to what you iggs think they are. They have green skin, black hair, beady little eyes, and big gasoline-rainbow, beetle wings.

This pixie has bluish-green skin of which it is probably very vain as most pixies only have grass colored skin. It has short braids sticking out at awkward angles from its head, and a big sharp toothed smile on its face.

I blink at it, and promptly shriek again, louder this time in hopes that if I just scream loud enough everything will decide that it wants to please me and will all make sense again. Because you know, everything just wants to make my life that much easier.

Ah, if only.

The pixie covers her ears and makes a face before deciding to pinch me again. I yelp and throw my pillow at her.

She dodges and glares at me. "Look, there is no time for this," she says in a high nasally voice that I am sure gets annoying real fast, I am sure it will be just my luck that I will have to listen to her all day, "You have to get downstairs and make breakfast."

"What?" I attempt to sound anything but confused, but I don't think I manage it.

"Come on, come on, the stepsisters will be up in an hour and you need to make them breakfast."

I blink blankly… oh.

DAMIT THE CURSE!

"Where am I! I had no intention of casting that curse, what the hell is going on! I want answers and I want them now!" Yeah. I'm angry, you know, just incase you missed that part.

The pixie grimaces, "This always happens-"

"People cursing themselves, no I don't think it normally does!" I interrupt her.

"Look, can we discuss this while you make breakfast? The stepsisters get angry when they don't get it on time," the pixie squeaks. Yeah, annoying real fast.

"I am not moving from this bed until I get some answers!" I declare, crossing my arms and glaring fiercely at the probably innocent pixie. Don't care about innocence though, she's denying me answers and thus gets no pity. None!

"Well, what are your questions?" the pixie says, landing at the bottom of my small bed, which I just start to notice has terribly itchy blankets. Drat.

"I-," I stop and think, what are my questions? Can I really demand answers when I don't have any questions? But how am I supposed to have questions if I have no bloody IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON! Information, that is what I need, information.

"Who are you?" I ask, my mind still sluggishly trying to figure out what I need information on.

"Lexi," the pixie says and smiles, "your guide through your fairy tales."

"What fairy tale am I-" I pause and think. Stepsisters. "Oh no, I'm in Cinderella aren't I?"

Lexi nods with a big annoying smile on her face.

Great, Cinderella, only the most commonly told, commonly changed, and terribly clichéd fairy tale ever. Just about every culture has their own Cinderella. So which one was I in? Was it Disney like? Would my fairy godmother be a fish? Would there be any cutting off of parts of the feet?

"Great," I moan, flopping back onto the bed, though I am missing my pillow and so it is not quite as satisfying.

"Now can we go downstairs?" Lexi asks. One track mind.

"I can't even cook!" I complain, "I burn fruit!"

"But you don't cook fruit," she says ditzily. I am going to have SO much fun.

"I don't want to!" I groan, "I just want to lie here and drown in my misery and stupidity until everything decides to go away!"

Well, Lexi won't have that! Oh no! She has a schedule to keep which for some crazy reason involves me cooking!

She pinches me again and again until with a burst of anger I get up out of bed and chase her out of my room. Though it's more of her running me out of my room as she promptly darts behind me and locks the door. I'm not even running, just stumbling all the way… How undignified.

You know, it is unbelievably rude to wear any iron around fey, but let me tell you how bad I wish I had a nice heavy iron chain right now.

I groan and collapse in front of the bed room door. There are wooden steps leading down and I can only suppose this means I was in an attic. I am adamant that I will not be going down those stairs, I am fearful of what I will find at the bottom, and I feel the more of this stupid curse that I explore, the more real it will become and the harder to make disappear. Thus, I will not be going down those stairs.

Lexi frowns at me, "Well, come on."

"I don't want to!" I pout like I am three years old again.

"Don't you want breakfast?"

"No!" I say defiantly, but my stomach growls ruining the effect and forcing me to realize that I actually do. Stupid pixie.

So I follow the stupid pixie downstairs to the kitchen. And may I say, I really got some new insight into this fairy tale that I was quickly growing to hate with a passion. It is no wonder no one could fit into Cinderella's shoe, because her feet were FREAKISHLY small!! The curse seemed to have decided that this was, like, an important plot point in the story or something and decided to shrink my feet!! I hadn't realized while I had been chasing Lexi out of my room. I had just attributed my sudden clumsiness to being off balance, but when you suddenly find it hard to even stand, you know something is wrong. It doesn't help that I'm tall. I feel like a palm tree in a hurricane being chopped down by some angry lumberjacks.

So, I struggle down the stairs clutching the rail like a lifeline and walking like I am on ice-skates. She leads me down a long hallway with candle holders kindly arranged at various intervals along the wall, and by the time we reach a sweeping stair case I have managed some form of balance, enough to look up a little and notice that there are far too many rooms in this house. More than can possibly be useful.

Down another hallway and we've reached the kitchen. While the rest of the house had been hard wood and tile, this was a stone deal probably on the edge of the house. There's a pump visible through the back door, a table, a couple of cabinets, a fireplace and a coal oven sort of thing.

I can't even work a normal oven and they want me to use that?

I glare at the oven, thinking all sorts of mean thoughts at the person who made it for not just inventing the microwave instead.

"So… what's breakfast?" I ask Lexi with a sigh.

"Scrambled eggs, smoked ham, fresh white bread, and milk," Lexi says with a smile, I think she's excited now that I am doing what she wants.

"So where's the fridge or ice box or what ever?" I ask, "Cellar maybe?"

The stupid git giggles. Yes, giggles. At me.

"You silly, you have to go out back and get them!" she says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Please tell me I heard wrong.

"The ice box is outside then?" I ask slowly.

"No the chickens and cows are. There's a smoke house there though."

I really think I am going to strangle her. After I burn that stupid curse book of course, and stab Donovan Erebus, after all this is ALL his fault.

By the time I get breakfast ready, I am frustrated enough to spit, and I do, in the eggs I just made. Not that it will make much of a difference, they are inedible anyway.

Did you know it was possible to burn eggs to a black crisp? And to have them undercooked at the same time?

Yeah, THAT'S how amazing my inability to cook it.

I had an awful time getting those eggs too! I manage to snatch them away from the angry chickens, only to trip on my newly malformed feet and have to go BACK and get more. The cups have very little milk in them, as I managed to spill most of it, on myself I might mention. The ham is cold as I dared not do anything to it. I didn't even attempt bread

All put together on a plate it is quite the atrocity.

But I put it all on a tray anyway and follow Lexi out the kitchen door to the dining room, stuffing a piece of cold ham in my mouth as I go. It's not too bad. At least it doesn't taste like ash.

I can only suppose that the stepfamily has nothing better to do but sit around and wait to get served breakfast, as they are all seated when I come in. Adding to that fact that (as Lexi seemed to feel the need to repeat over and over, as I balance the tray and myself with great difficulty) I am quite late. The older woman at the head of the table seems to come out of her bored stupor as I enter, and come alive like a puppet whose strings have just been grabbed.

"You are late!" Aww, did she figure that out all on her own? "Where have you been?" she says shrilly

Great, another voice that gets real old, real fast. And I am sure it's going to be bossing me around too!

" Cooking," I answer, "Would you have preferred to have ALL of it inedible?" I shoot back frusteratedly. I have been woken up early, have had nothing but a bit of ham to eat, not a single cup of coffee in sight, I have been COOKING, and the woman is insulting the work I just did for her! What is the curse gonna do to me, much less this stick of a woman if I get a little angry?

The woman seems to ignore my remark. I set down the plates and high tail it out of there before they can get in a remark about the food. At least that was the plan.

"Cinderella!"

Drat. I blame my newly shrunken feet.

"Uhm, it's Elle if you don't mind," I sigh.

"What is this that you are trying to feed us?" the woman looks at the plate as if it might jump up and eat her.

It actually might.

"I expect better, Cinderella!" the woman says, pursing her lips.

Hey! I tried, and is it so much trouble to say Elle? Honest, it's shorter!

"Mother, Cinderella, is trying to poison us, I'm sure," this little slip of a girl on the woman's right says.

"I think Elle should have to eat it," says the only not piercingly shrill voice at the table. I turn to look at the other stepsister, the one with her back to me. She stands out at the table, the other two are unhealthily thin and pale looking with lank blond hair, but this girl looks normal, almost strong, with dark hair, not to mention she is much prettier than the other two. She also called me Elle.

I think I dislike her the least, not that that is saying a lot, she does want me to eat the fatal stuff I made.

"Uh… I actually think I have cleaning or something to do," I say, to Lexi's cheerful nods at my shoulder, "I really don't have time to be sick, you guys can enjoy it though." And with that I get out of there, fast.

**Obviously there is more... we haven't even seen our prince! This also turned out longer than I was originally planning. I am doing like a BUNCH of other fairy tales if I keep up with this story and if they are all this detailed... they shouldn't be... but sometimes I just can't control myself! So... Donovan might not even pop up for another chapter or so... XP**


	5. How to Look Busy

**Hey all! Sorry about the long wait! AP tests are most bothersome. But I wrote you a nice long chapter to appease you- ahem... I mean... to make you happy! Of course- So read on!**

How to Look Busy

"What did you do in there?" Lexi says, looking rather angrily at me.

"Uhh…" I say, unsure how to answer that.

"You are Cinderella! You are supposed to be timid!" she says, putting her hands on her hips as she floats just inches from my nose.

"I'm not just going to sit back and take that!" I say, trying not to cross my eyes as I look at her.

"But you are supposed to! That's how the story goes!" Lexi flusters, "And you aren't supposed to change the story or-"

"Or what? I'm personally hoping the story will just kick me out," I interrupt, "In case you didn't catch it, I don't want to be here!"

"But the curse will make you repeat it if you change the story too much!"

I shrug, "How is cooking and cleaning even remotely important to the plot line?" I ask, raising an eyebrow and managing to ignore just about everything she says at the same time, how talented am I?

I proceed to spend the rest of the morning proving exactly how unimportant cleaning is by not doing it. I wander my way to around the house trailing a flustered pixie and a mop and bucket, not using them, just keeping them handy incase I run into any of the Steps.

Ah, the things you learn in senior year, how to look busy.

After passing three rooms that look remarkably similar, same ugly pink wallpaper and ancient and uncomfortable looking couches with tables and cabinets full of trinkets that I am amazed the artist didn't just destroy on the spot, I realize just what the curse is trying to make, BUSY WORK! It's like a bad teacher.

Well too bad, because I hate cleaning.

I wander into one of the step's bedrooms and look jealously at their big fluffy bed.

I'm tired.

The next room of interest is a library… with a bunch of empty books. Well, not completely empty, each has a single line of text on each page, _Get back to work._

Definitely a bad teacher.

I finally settle in a big marble ballroom sort of thing. It has a nice window seat and I decide it is an ideal place to sit and try to think.

"You know," I say distantly to Lexi, who by this point has seemed to decide I am a lost cause, "it says a lot about True Love if they have a curse that forces people to believe it. I mean, how can a curse know anything about my personality and then choose who my true love is going to be?"

"True Love has nothing to do with your personality," Lexi shrugs, her arms curled around her knees as she sits on the window framing.

"Nonsense," I shake my head, "It has everything to do with it." I change the subject before Lexi can argue, "All I can say is, if mine's not Anthony Haltzer, it's wrong." I consider what I have just said, after all, I didn't exactly think about it before it came out of my mouth. Who does that?

This actually might not be too much of a curse if it was Anthony.

I could see it now.

I walk into the ballroom, all shining and gorgeous, he walks up to me, eyes shining as he looks at me. He gets down on one knee and admits he has loved me since the first day he saw me and I do what I have forever been too nervous to do since-

I mean… I'm not afraid of him… I'm normally just afraid of what I'll say, or the lack of saying anything. I can never say anything to him. All of my wittiness, that everyone just loves so much, abandons me completely. But since he is my prince, of course he'll come over, we'll dance and strike up a conversation, he'll declare his undying love for me, the curse will be all finished, and everything will be as perfect as if it really were a fairy tale!

So why should I worry, much less clean if everything will be fixed up as soon as the ball rolls around? Speaking of which when is that stupid messenger-

Bang, bang.

Speak of the devil, there he is.

Lexi pops up, "Go answer the door!" she demands excitedly.

"Why?" I shrug, not moving from my terribly comfortable seat and very nice view of the side garden, which I am happily NOT working in.

"Because it's part of the story!" Lexi says frustratedly. I decide I like frustrating her.

"Not an important part," I repeat yet again, "I already know what it is," I shrug. "Besides the Steps are just going to tell me I can't go, and then I'll be right back where I started, sitting here, bored."

"Don't you want to know when it is?" Lexi presses.

"Why don't you just tell me?"

"So that you will go and get the invite!" Lexi is practically turning blue… well, bluish-green.

"I'll just wait for one of the steps to gloat about it," I say dismissively.

Sure enough, within minutes the wispy little stepsister comes hopping in, waving an invite and wearing a large smile on her face, a face that is not suited for such muscle movements.

"Oh Cinderella, I am going to a ball and you are not!" she says in her awful little voice.

"That's nice, when is it?" I think the fact that I haven't even moved from my window seat throws her off.

"It's tonight and you aren't allowed," she mocks, she grows quiet though when I say nothing and finally storms out, having missed out on her fun.

I stick out my tongue after her.

So tonight. Well, at least the curse doesn't feel the need to keep me in here for long, it's willing to move things along so that I can get together with Anthony and get the heck out of here.

After another hour or so of sitting at the window daydreaming about my future relationship with Anthony I grow bored of just sitting. Of course I am not about to return to cleaning. Who do you think I am? Cinderella?

Don't answer that.

Lexi gets all excited as soon as I get up out of the window seat and grab my mop and pail.

"Oh good you are going to clean now!" she twitters.

"Hardly," I snort, "This place is spotless! It seems like the last poor girl to get trapped in here did a good enough job, it would be absolutely pointless to try and clean it again," I look around. In fact, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even manage pointless nothing, I'd probably make it worse!

Lexi frowns but can't respond besides her traditional, "It's part of the story!"

I shrug and walk back off down the corridor glancing up at the wide windows and stern looking paintings, even the flowers in the pictures manage to look stern.

I suddenly decide to find my way into the garden and start looking around for a back door, but it seems as if the house is built to be frustrating, or the curse trying to keep me from going out and enjoying the nice weather. I finally get fed up and let out a groan of frustration and jog back down the corridor to the largest window. With more difficulty than should be required, I push open the window and wiggle out.

You know that saying look before you leap?

Well, I think I was a little too eager because while I had supposed it was a little nothing jump, I suddenly found myself dropping for longer than I should be. I manage about half of a squeak of surprise before I hit the bushes below. I giggle as I see Lexi flying down to yell at me.

I want to do that again.

"What are you doing?" she says like she's never seen anyone escape out a window.

"Lying here," I say insolently, I feel like a little kid doing something that is dangerous but oh so much fun.

Lexi glares, but I ignore it as I get up off the bush to find myself looking at healthy stepsister only a few steps away. "Umm…" I say trying to think of an excuse then realize, what exactly do I need an excuse for? The house is spotless and I could care less what she thinks. Instead I decide it wouldn't hurt to get a few answers besides the usual, "You should be cleaning." So I half smile up at her, brush myself off, and walk over. She just sits over there glaring at me, I think she needs to put a little more work into our relationship. I mean, if she's determined not to be on pleasant terms with me then at least come over and yell at me a little, hmm? Then I would get to yell back and that would put me in such a better mood, even if it wouldn't accomplish anything.

"Hi," I say with false cheer.

Glare.

"Hey, so you already know to call me Elle, what should I call you besides evil stepsister?" I inquire.

Glare.

Can she even speak outside of her scripted lines? Is she just a prop for this world?

"Look, I have no idea what is-"

"Stop talking to me! Never talk to me!" she interrupts, quite rudely.

Guess that solves that question.

"Can't you take a hint?" she adds with more anger than I think the situation called for. I can appreciate a remark like that, I know too many annoying people, but not when it is pointed at me, so seeing as it was-

"Oh, well, excuse me," I shoot back sarcastically, "didn't meant to try and be friendly, I mean who DOES that?" I say, acting all offended. I stomp back off to try and find an alternate entrance to the house, just to make it dramatic.

And thus ended everything interesting. Time seemed to fly unnaturally fast after that.

Three guesses why.

No it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that I was trapped in a world created by a curse!

I filled the time with deep thoughts, questioning the existence of things like true love, wondering if my supposed true love was not Anthony then would I even know him?, (The curse could force me to do just about anything it wanted. Would it just pick up a random bum off the street and label him my true love? There would be nothing I could do about it. The purpose of the curse HAD been to just set up a marriage for women who didn't want to marry, did it matter to who?), imagining just how a curse like this worked, was someone in charge?(Oh just wait until I found them), wondering if I was missing from classes yet, and making a mental list of all of the people I wanted to torture if I could get my hands on them!

Like I said, deep thoughts.

**Still liking the story? I haven't bored you yet have I? Pfft, who am I kidding, sarcasm never grows old!For example-**

** Reviews are SOOOO overrated, why would ANYONE ever want a review! wink wink**


	6. Dresses

**Just wanted to update before I go away for the weekend but... had fun writing it, hope you like reading it!**

Dresses

Finally a shrill call came, "Cinderella," and the dressing frenzy began. I didn't need Lexi hovering around my shoulder telling me that I absolutely HAD to dress them and I had better not try to tell her that that was not important! They simply couldn't dress them selves! Just imagine!

The horror, the unadulterated horror! Dressing oneself, how barbaric.

I also didn't need her directions about how to dress someone. I did have to take a waiting maid class thank you (worst waste of a class ever), not that that stopped her from trying to feel useful.

There was an ugly green dress with violet bows for the stepmother, did I mention how ugly it was? How it made you nauseous just looking at it?

A potentially pretty baby blue dress for the pale stepsister, however it never reached that potential as she added far too many ugly feathery accessories, and it looked rather like a tent on her slight frame.

Might I mention that both of these two women were frighteningly thin. The corsets that they insisted on did nothing, I had to tighten them all the way just to keep it from slipping off! There is thin, and then there is just wasting away, and these two women were in the step after that!

I was saving the other stepsister for last because I had decided, somewhere among all of my deep thoughts, that the only person who showed a slight personality might be the only one to keep me from going crazy. Thus it was potentially worth my effort to, if not befriend then at least beat some answers out of.

"Hello," I say as I sidle into the large room I had eyed so jealously earlier.

Healthy stepsister looks up, raises an eyebrow, but says nothing, and quickly returns to looking at herself in the vanity.

I glare at the back of her head. "Well, thanks for the welcome," I mutter under my breath.

"You can stop glaring at me," stepsister says picking up a brush and pulling at her hair.

Curse mirrors.

And here I had been hoping to start off with a good impression.

"So… uhhh… which dress?"

Aren't I just a master of conversation?

"I hardly care," step responds, "After all, you're the one getting the Prince."

I wasn't sure what I had been expecting her to say, possibly something along the lines of the dress color she wanted? But let me tell you her answer was so far off from the realm of expectations that I would have been less surprised if she had sprouted another head.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

Lexi starts to get nervous at my shoulder for some reason, probably because she doesn't want me knowing what is going on, I'm not stupid, I know something is up. "You shouldn't be talking to her!" she says pulling my hair a little, what did I tell you? I swat her away and she glares at me indignantly.

"Come on," she says, "I knew you were dumb but I hadn't thought you were completely clueless."

Ouch.

"But how would you…" I bumble, still in shock.

"Forget it," she dismisses quickly.

"Oh no," I say quickly regaining some of my muddled brain, "it looks like you've got answers and I want some."

"The silver one."

"What?" I say more confused than ever, and it has been a very confusing day up to this point, let me assure you.

"You asked which dress," she replies, still not looking at me.

"And now I am asking something else," I shoot back.

"You were trying, and I changed my mind in the eternity you took for it," she says dismissively.

Evil.

I glare at her, and make _sure _she sees me in the mirror. I stomp over to the closet, forming a quick plan that also happened to include a little revenge.

I like revenge. Though considering where it has landed me most recently, maybe I should start considering a change in morals.

Regardless, I proceed to make step's dressing as miserable as is possible for me to make it. I tie her corset much too tight, I burn her with the curling iron, I stab her with the hair pins, apply the makeup as inexpertly as I can, and all the while chat cheerily and keep suggesting that she start talking. Lexi pulls my hair a few more times until I wave the curling iron in her direction and she keeps out of reach after that.

"You are unbelievably annoying," she states finally, after I manage to pinch her with the makeup case(don't ask me how I managed it). I get offended, she cannot possibly be older than I am! Who is she to call me annoying?

I "accidentally" poke the eye that I am painting.

"Fine!" she yells, standing up and glaring at me. It is all I can do not to break out laughing, there is a big streak of eye paint streaking randomly off of her eye.

"My name is Adele Weston, I was the last princess to fail the curse, I will be playing the villains for the rest of your fairy tales," she says with a sarcastic sort of smile and a flourishy sort of bow.

I blink… this was a lot to take in so quickly.

"You're a real person?" I blurt out. Shut up, I am in a severe state of confusion here.

She rolls her eyes, "What, did you think I was just a puppet?"

"Well I had been considering the possibility…" I trail off.

I am quiet for a few seconds, processing this information with of course begins to make perfect sense to me because I am not a dense igg. But seeing as you are, I suppose I should explain my thought process. So this Adele was obviously the last princess to be trapped in this curse. Apparently if you fail it you are trapped in here forever, playing the villain for the next person…

Yes, that's all I got! That's all she stupid told me! Shut up.

I open my mouth to ask more questions when Adele interrupts quickly, "You aren't supposed to know that and I'm not supposed to tell you so if you wouldn't mind just being quiet?"

I decide to take her advice, surprisingly enough. I need some time to think things over. So I finish preparing Adele, and she and the steps head off to the ball. And I wait.

And wait… and wait… and- AHRG when is that cursed godmother getting here!

This is bad form I tell you! I would never let the GM be late! What kind of lame excuse for a poorly run fairy tale is this!

I stalk around outside the kitchen. Occasionally throwing my hands up and glaring around at the poor water pump. Finally I get smart and glare at Lexi.

"Why is she late?"

Lexi looks at me like I am stupid. I am not! It is this cursed fairy tale that is stupid!

"You have to start crying," she squeaks.

I glare, "You want me to what?" I say incredulously.

"Your tears alert your fairy godmother to your distress!" she says as if it is obvious. Obviously SHE missed the part about this being my future job!

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, now how do I really get her?"

"Cry!" she insists stubbornly.

I glare daggers at her and she just puts her hands on her hips and glares right back. I give up and swing around to face the empty garden. "Hey godmother!" I start yelling at the top of my lungs, "get out here! There is no way you are about to get me to start CRYING because you want me to pretend like I don't think I am going to a ball that I don't even care about in the first place! I haven't cried since I can't remember when and I am not about to start just because some cursed bloody fairy tale wants me to! SO GET OUT HERE NOW BEFORE I GET REALLY ANGRY!" I shout until my voice starts to crack at the last bit.

Yeah, crying? Not my style, go figure. So lets try the exact opposite shall we?

Well that did the trick because moments later a flustered little old lady pops out from behind a bush and floats quickly over to me. Her gray is hair mussed out of her bun and her fluffy blue dress's all wrinkled as if she got here in a hurry.

Good, I am tired of waiting! Besides, she was OBVIOUSLY not a real GM seeing as most people RETIRED at about that age, and as any GOOD GM knew, the puffy dresses were completely ridiculous. Thus, I felt no sort of companionship for her and no guilt over yelling at her!

"Hello dear," my GM says, apparently trying to hide or ignore the fact that she is panting and I am glaring angrily at her. "I'm your fairy godmother!"

Oh wow really? I would never have guessed! I mean if she hadn't told me I think I would have just supposed she was the queen of stating previously established facts! It is terribly difficult not to say just that, you have no idea just how difficult.

"There is no need for tears or distress dear, I am here to send you off to the ball so that you may meet the prince!" she smiles widely as if she were trying to console me or something.

Do I LOOK distressed?

No! I look frustrated because I AM frustrated because my fake GM won't get over her self and her little monologue and just send me to the ball already!

"That's very nice, can I get my dress now?" I say. Don't ask me for polite, there is no way I am going to manage polite, the best you are getting from me is bored.

At least the other characters managed some forced improving. This stupid fairy seems intent on following her lines and completely ignoring anything I say. She's probably just excited that she gets to do something at all. It's not like she has any other part in this story, and come to think of it, she's probably not in any other story either.

"There, there now dear, it is alright that you don't have anything to wear to the ball, I will supply you with everything you need, that is what I am here for! Because I am your Fairy Godmother!"

What have I been telling you?

"Now if you will just stand still-" she says.

I haven't exactly been moving.

The GM waves her wand and gaudy little sparkles fly out and- suddenly I am in my underwear.

I squeal and glare at the cursed GM. "Ahem!" I say loudly.

The GM doesn't even look at me, she just goes about hitting her stick and muttering like something has gone wrong.

An igg might actually buy that act. I however am a trained GMA and I KNOW that wands do not stop halfway though a spell. I also catch the revengeful little grin on her face. "Drop the act and give me the cursed dress!" I paused and with a VERY fake smile I add, "…Please."

The GM smiles and taps the wand one more time. Suddenly I am in a big white dress, corset and hoop skirt in the bargain too. My hair is piled up in a curly red mass on top of my head, and of course, the traditional glass slippers are pinching my feet. I look down, give my skirt a little test twirl, and shake my head to make sure my hair won't fall out as soon as I take a step.

It might sound ridiculous but since I could care less what you think- I actually feel sort of… pretty. It probably has something to do with my profession, but I do like dresses and pretty outfits and things, especially the really old fashions, I just never really try them on myself. It doesn't mean though that I don't look jealously at all the things our princesses get to wear. So actually wearing the whole thing, I feel VERY elegant and quite beautiful.

Well, until I take a step forward.

I realize too late that I am wearing stilettos and I come crashing to the ground in a mass of hoop skirts and cloth.

I growl as I look up at the GM who is not even trying to hide that she is laughing. And here I had thought she was stupid or something.

"Excuse me, could I PLEASE get some smaller heels here?!" I growl up at her. My face is turning quite red; I am feeling absolutely ridiculous here.

The GM is still laughing quietly to herself as she waves her wand again. I cautiously get to my feet again, and while it is a little better, I still feel almost as unstable as I did this morning. "Look," I say trying to sound reasonable, though I refuse to meet the GM's eye and focus on trying to smooth out my dress, "I am having enough trouble with the small feet problem, you can't really expect me to dance around like this!"

With another sigh the GM waves her wand and I nearly topple backwards as my heels shrink again. I windmill my arms until I finally regain some sort of balance again. I take a much more cautious step this time and sigh with relief.

"Thank you," I say rolling my eyes. The GM smiles in a grandmotherly sort of way… an evil grandmother.

"All of this is yours until midnight tonight, my dear, but when the clock strikes twelve you must be- blah blah blah" who in the world DOESN'T know this entire spiel? Honestly, show me the person who hasn't heard about the whole midnight thing and I will beat them with whatever rock they have been living under!

I dare not say anything though to the effect of making her speed up a little for fear that the crazy old woman will make my heels bigger again.

I suddenly realize that the old coot has finally stopped talking and is kind of floating there, not doing anything. If not for the pointed look she was giving me I think I might have thought she was frozen or something. What a weird old bat.

Oh she can't really expect me to- grrrr.

"But however will I get there?" I mumble out in the flattest voice I can manage, glaring at her.

"Never fear dear, I will supply you with a coach and horses and anything else you need!" she says suddenly returning to life.

DO I FREAKING LOOK FEARFUL!

"Gee, great thanks," I mumble sarcastically.

With that the goofy GM starts waving her wand and humming some useless song and pretending like it is important as she waves her wand in time with the music. Grimm, kill me now!

I look around for something to beat my head against.

After several more excruciatingly awful and cliched lines, and my unsuccessful attempts to beat my self into a much more preferable state of unconsciousness, I am headed off to this cursed ball, in a terribly gaudy pink coach, I might add.

As soon as we are out of sight of the house, Lexi pops up next to me. I hadn't even realized she'd been missing. Drat! I just missed out on several wonderfully Lexi free minutes!

"Good, and we are off!" she says, as if she is stating something useful.

"And where were you?" I raise and eyebrow and look at her with fake innocence and curiosity. Had by-the-rules little Lexi just been doing something wrong?

To my great pleasure her cheeks turn brown in what I can only suppose is a blush. She tugs on one of her braids and after a few seconds of awkward silence admits, "the fairy godmother likes to turn me into one of the horses-"

I break out laughing and despite Lexi's protests that it is NOT funny and that I should try being a horse some time, I can not stop. I am still wiping tears from my eyes when the coach stops and we arrive at the castle, and as soon as I step out of the carriage and see the horses I break out in laughter again. I can just see a bright green horse with an angry little look on its face trying to shake the gaudy pink feather off of its head.

I get some strange looks from the doorman. I actually have to lean against the stone wall for a few moments because I cannot breathe properly between the corset and my laughing. I end up with hiccups but it is well worth the look on Lexi's face.


	7. The Prince?

The Prince?

Once I finally calm down I take the time to look at the enormous building I am to be dancing in. It's one of those castles that was built up rather than out, that combined with the darkness, I can't even see the top. But other than the large staircase leading up to the streamer-ed and well lit front door. (There, have I given you enough descriptions? I hate having to describe things for you Iggs, takes up valuable sarcasm time! Don't you know what a castle looks like? Use that imagination you think you have!)

I wobble up the stairs to the entrance, wondering how in the world I am really expected to dance in this condition. On my knees perhaps? Ah yes, waltzing on one's knees, I'm sure it's just the most popular thing since disco… ugh, disco.

I must be very late, as no one else is entering with me, the giant hallway is empty… Stupid late GM. Now I have to enter all alone and probably make some grand sort of entrance… oh crud!

I stop in my tracks and lean against the wall, still hiccuping. What am I doing? This is ridiculous! I can barely even look Anthony directly in the eyes, how am I supposed to make some huge grand entrance and just talk to him like everything is completely normal? Doubtless he will be a perfect gentleman, he probably won't even be angry about getting stuck in this curse and… double crud! I trapped him in here with me didn't I! How am I supposed to apologize for something like that? 'Hey, sorry about cursing you into this crazy place, now if you would just kiss me-'

I start slipping down the marble wall, considering just spending the night hiding behind the tapestry conveniently placed just a few feet from where I am slumped. As I collapse onto the floor I get a better look at the front of my dress and realize I have grass stains on the front of it. And as if that weren't enough, just to make sure I didn't forget how ridiculous I am at the moment, a particularly powerful hiccup escapes and I bump my head back against the wall!

"Bloody cursed place!" I growl angrily, hiding my head under my hands.

"What are you doing?" Lexi squeaks, suddenly speaking up.

"Collapsing in a miserable heap of nerves and ridiculousness, I thought it was obvious," I reply though my knees.

"No, no you have to get up!" Lexi says frustratedly, "I got you all the way here and you are not allowed to give up now!"

"Watch me!" I growl. "Ouch! Stop pinching me!" I screech. I am soooo tired of her pinching me!

"C'mon get up!" she says, I think she was trying for cheerful, but she just sounds annoyed.

Imagine that. Someone annoying you, must be awful.

SARCASM.

"I can't!" I moan, "I'll make a fool of myself! I just… I can't talk to him! He makes me go all weak kneed and stupid and I just know I will make a fool of myself!" I peek up to see if maybe Lexi will just accept this and go away and leave me to stew in my embarrassment and-

GREAT AND GLORIOUS GRIMM! She is going away! I immediately feel happier just from the wonderful sight of Lexi leaving me alone! I sigh, slightly relieved, not even thinking about why she is leaving or where she is going, just relieved at this small silver lining. I put my head back on my knees and close my eyes, feeling terribly small in this big lonely hall. I try to think about how exactly I am going to get up the courage to talk to Anthony, but I can't. Every time I try to think of him my unruly mind just keeps imagining how wonderful it would be to have Anthony sitting next to me keeping me company, surrounded by all this cold stone. And I just imagine that he would start talking and I wouldn't even have to worry about getting up the courage because he would just be oh so perfect and then he would lend me his coat or put his arm around me and…

Shut up, I am quite conscious of how sad it is.

But it's not even as sad as you think silly igg, because just as I am thinking this I hear footsteps coming down the hall, I peek out from behind my hand and spot a very fine pair of boots below just as fine pants. I glance up just quickly enough to spot a head of dirty blond hair, it is! It IS Anthony! In all of his perfection he has read my mind and come to my aid!

Who's sad now!

I hide my face again so that my dream can continue to play out just as it should.

The boots stop just in front of me and Anthony bends down next to me. Oh this is too perfect to be true!

Too bad it really is, to be true that is.

A hand, most certainly NOT Anthony's, grips my arm and roughly pulls me to my feet. For a moment I am too shocked to do anything. Why would Anthony- I look at the face of my attacker and my poor brain just can't grasp why this brutish face, so obviously not Anthony's, is staring back at me.

Oh STUPID!

Everything clicks back into place and I instantly take up shouting at and kicking the guard. Lexi is floating next to him squeaking at him to bring me to the ballroom, the little traitor. I try to wrestle my hand out of the brute's grip, and I think my strength and fighting smarts caught him off guard. He has to call over another of his brutish buddies and they try to restrain me. Try being the key word there. I am not top of my defense class (excluding certain elves who don't even deserved the recognition that they exist) for nothing!

But in the end the brute strength of three men and their superior ability to balance wins out… I blame my freakish feet.

I am literally dragged to the entrance of the ballroom atop some more stairs. I put on my best glare as the brutes apologize and set me back on my wobbly legs. I look down and for some strange reason I am a tiny bit less afraid, better, grimm I am feeling like I could take down a troll! It could be that everyone has seen me enter by this point and there is no more reason to try and hide, it could be that the real barrier was just getting to the top of these steps, or it could just be that my brief bout of rage cured me of my hesitation. I am willing to bet on the last one.

Regardless of the reason, I stand at the top of the stairs, grass-stained dress, mussed hair, red cheeks and all. I just smile, square my shoulders, raise my chin, and try to make my way down the stairs, if not gracefully, then at least without falling.

Step, step. Step, step. Careful… careful now. The thought passes thought my mind that maybe I should stop looking at my feet and glance up to look for Anthony who, if I am correct, should be watching me and making his way through the crowd to greet me, but that would be far too dangerous, and I am so close to the bottom-

I sigh with relief as soon as I hit the floor. Well, that's one obstacle crossed.

With a deep breath I turn up, scanning the crowd for the blond head and handsome face that I love but fear to see. As I am skimming through the faces, they all start to look very similar despite the varied dresses and hair tones. It becomes apparent that all of the people in the crowd have very bland features. These must be the true prop people in this whole crazy curse, it's just like the rooms back in the house, all effectively the same, just made to be there, but you don't really notice until you start to think about it. It's quite creepy, though, to see it in people. Especially when they all keep glancing over their shoulders at you. I suppose it's probably supposed to be as if they are wondering who this beautiful new girl is, but it's just disconcerting really.

I glare at each one whose eye I catch trying to glimpse me. Needless to say I just have a pretty constant glare on my face. I close my eyes and calm my features, I don't really want to be scowling when I find Anthony do I? No, but it is so hard, even with my eyes closed I can feel all of those blank gazes on me.

I open my eyes and it almost feels worse, I start to feel claustrophobic and slightly nauseous. I try to look for any one familiar, heck, even Lexi might be nice if she can tell me where Anthony is, where are they?

"Anthony," I mutter under my breath, "where are you?"

"Dairson."

The single word interrupts my thoughts.

I whirl around looking for the owner of the voice. There is only one person in the world who calls me that, just my last name, and dear Grimm if it really is him I think I will just melt into a puddle of wretchedness. Or perhaps be so embarrassed that I will explode, but why would I be embarrassed? Oh maybe because I am a mess and flustered and lost and- oh dear merciful Grimm, please, please…

I turn around to find my self face to face with the very last person I would ever wish to see here, and I am not in any way, shape, or form exaggerating that statement. Tall, with black hair that just brushes his undeservingly handsome face and covers his sharp little elf ears, dressed in all sorts of finery, and wearing his signature vile little grin.

"Donovan."

Yes, that's right, I find myself staring at the very troll that got me into this mess!

My face is blank for a few moments as I try to decide what emotion I am supposed to be feeling, I quickly settle on anger. Red hot rage and indignation.

"What are you doing here? Where is Anthony? What have you done with him you ogre!" I hiss at the grinning little- ahem.

"Are you really getting angry at ME?" the infuriating elf says, raising an eyebrow, "when from what I can gather from that bloody pixie it is effectively your fault I am st-"

"No," I interrupt him, pointing my finger angrily at him, "You, don't talk. If I have to add your annoying voice to all of the other things I am dealing with at the moment I think I will explode-" He opens his mouth to interrupt me. I kick him in the shin.

"Bloody Grimm!" he winces, "What in the two worlds are your cursed shoes- oh those are glass aren't they? And you seriously just kicked me with bloody gla- OW!" I kick him again. Apparently he doesn't understand the concept of shutting up, but then he never really did.

At least these glass shoes come in handy for something.

I keep talking before he can interrupt me again. "I just need to find Anthony, then we can all just get out of here."

Donovan looks at me silently.

"Have you seen him?" I ask slowly, after all I am talking to some one very dense here.

He still says nothing, just raises his eyebrows and looks at me infuriatingly.

"Well?" I say, getting quite frustrated.

"Are you going to kick me again if I talk?" he says.

"I'll kick you again if you keep insisting on being dense!" I growl.

"Obviously you are confused as I am not the dense one here yo- NO!" he says as I pull my leg back again.

"Where is Anthony?" I ask one more time, "he shouldn't be that hard to find even for a stone headed troll like you, everyone is going to be calling him prince and-"

"Well, I don't know where Anthony is, but he's not the one who everyone's been calling prince-"

"That's ridiculous," I say, but there is still a sinking felling in my stomach, did they really just pick up some random stranger after all? "Who-" I ask fearfully.

"Me," he says with a smug look on his face.

"That's not funny, I don't have time for this," I say, letting out a breath I had been holding, I don't have time for Donovan's stupid vanity games-

"I'm not kidding."

"And I'm not either," I hiss angrily, "You want to get out of here? Tell me where-"

"And you call me dense," he rolls his beady black little eyes. "Fine, you win, I'll take you to the prince." He says, giving in, finally!

He grabs my arm and starts pulling me through the crowd. "Get off of me! I can follow perfectly well without your dirty hand on me thank you," I growl tugging my arm from his grasp. He shrugs and continues on through the crowd up to the other end of the room. I smile as I catch a glimpse of two thrones. In them are seated two more puppets, who just look slightly older. The king and queen.

As we break away from the crowd the couple break out into smiles.

"Hello dear," the older woman says as Donovan stomps up to the two of them.

"Who is this beauty you have brought with you?" the man says.

I stare confusedly at the apparently senile old couple. Why are they talking to him like they know-

Oh no.

On no oh no ohnoohnoohno! NO!

I spin on my heel and even manage to almost not fall, not that almost counts for much on something like dramatic exits. I fall onto my butt, but I waste no time in pulling off my cursed slippers and pushing myself back up to my feet, ignoring whatever rude face Donovan is probably making. To make up for my not so dramatic fall I throw both of the slippers down onto the marble floor as I rush off through the crowd. The loud shattering is the only gratification I get the whole evening. It easier to mount the stairs and fight off the approaching guards and Lexi without the cursed shoes anyway. I don't ever pause to think. I don't want to think. I just need to keep moving because as soon as I stop and think I fear I will think of something horribly awful that I refuse to ever even think of thinking!

I dodge more guards and run out of the grand doors to the entrance stairs. How cliched that this is where I am caught.

"Dairson!" the troll says, grabbing my arm again.

"Get away from me! Don't talk to me! Don't touch me!" I say furiously wrenching my arm back from him.

Note to self, less furious-ness in the wrenching when balanced on FREAKISHLY SMALL FEET!! I feel myself falling backwards and there is nothing I can do. Curses curses CURSES!

Of course, if you were expecting some sort of heroic catch from Donovan, please, allow me to correct you while bemoaning the pain that is dense people, DONOVAN IS NO GENTLEMAN! And so you should expect nothing less than me falling backwards and breaking my head on the stairs, which is exactly what happens.

**YAY! We finally get to Donovan! Took me long enough right? Well, he only makes a very short appearance for now... sigh... he doesn't have a really large part for a while still. It doesn't help that he's being stubborn with ME and refuses to develop and become what I want him to be! The major downfall is that he can only be as witty and clever as ME so he does not amount to much does he. What a shame. Well, if anyone else thinks of something witty Donovan could do or say or some way that I can try to develop him, I would be REALLY grateful. Stupid men.  
**


	8. Cleaning

**Sorry about the wait. Ohhh, I am excited, this story has twice as many views and reviews as any of my other stories! Tis VERY exciting especially since I am quickly approaching 1000 views! XP**

Cleaning...

"Wake up! Wake up, now! Come on- OOF!" And that is the sound of Lexi being stifled by my pillow.

I don't even open my eyes (I just have instinctively good aim), I just lay in my bed not thinking, not moving, not anything. My head hurts too much.

"What's that?" I mutter finally to the pillow on my floor, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you," I say sarcastically as I bury my face into my arm while Lexi finally wrestles her way out from under the pillow.

"I told you this would happen! If you don't complete enough of the story then it will just make you repeat!" Lexi says absolutely beside herself. "Now you have to repeat it as another- blah blah blah, blah BLAH blah, BLAH." Her high pitch is not helping.

Lexi finally finishes, hands on her hips, floating just a foot from my face. I yawn.

"What happened?" I mutter out rubbing my eyes, I can hardly remember anything from the night before, and my head hurts like hell, did I mention that? Well, it does.

Oh man, did I get drunk or something? I'd never had more than a few sips of champagne or wine so I wouldn't know, but is this what a hangover feels like? Grimm, I'm never drinking again!

"You fell off the stairs and hit your head, the Story decided it had had enough of your messing around and it restarted you, now what do you have to say for yourself?" Lexi says moodily.

She sounds like my mom.

"I blame my freakishly small feet and the fact that this curse actually made alcohol I could get drunk off of. I'm not sure how it all works but I'm supposing it could have controlled something trivial like that-" I trail off as I notice Lexi is looking at me strangely, "What?"

"What are you talking about?" Lexi squeaks, tilting her head so that her braids fall at funny looking angles.

"I- what did I do?"

"You shoved the prince! You shoved him and you yelled at him and you called him rude names!" Lexi says, turning that bluish green color.

"Oh Grimm," I curse. I got angry at Anthony? When I said I had wanted to be able to talk to him I hadn't meant like that! Oh what had I said? What would he think of me? A drunkard? I had heard horror stories about stuff like this. Finding out about stuff you did while you were drunk and not even being able to remember it enough to apologize after. And I had yelled and gotten angry and… man, I must turn into someone awful while I'm drunk because I know Anthony would never do anything to get a reasonable person angry! I am never touching alcohol ever again! Oh what am I going to do?

I groan and hide my head in my knees, "Oh, Lexi, how is he ever going to forgive me? What is he going to think of me when even I hate me! How am I going to-" I break off from my misery as I hear footsteps pounding up to my attic, "What now?" I groan.

"Oh, it's Adele," Lexi says almost fearfully, "She's going to be so angry."

"Why?" I say worriedly, I would never admit it out loud but she rather scared me.

I don't get my answer because at that moment the door slams open and Adele steps into my room all glaring and absolutely boiling over with rage. Now see normally I would hide my fear and respond to anger in my traditional way, getting angry right back. But seeing as I probably deserved plenty of grief for whatever happened last night, I would take whatever she felt I deserved to have thrown at me. To a certain point at least.

"What in the two worlds did you think you were doing?" is the first thing she says to my poor self as I huddle the best I can in the middle of my room with no pillow and scarce blankets.

"Uhh-"

"You are so self centered, do you even realize what the rest of us have to deal with because you screwed up?"

"Uhm-"

"No, you probably don't so let me clear this up for you. Thanks to your train wreak last night, you are going to be restarting all over for Cinderella, except its not going to be as nice and clean and happy as your last chance, no. I'm sure you've read the original Grimm version, no where near as pleasant and fluffy as the version you just screwed over."

I distantly recall that this might have been what Lexi was trying to tell me before I tuned her out, but it is much more recognizable when it is being yelled loudly at you by a furious looking Adele.

"Does that mean you-" I start timidly.

"YES! That means I am going to be cutting off my heel because you can't just manage it right the first time! I have only had to do it once before and let me assure you it is about on the same level as getting trampled by a troll or sticking your hand into dragon fire, you want to try it some time?" she says, positively seething.

"Uhh, I don't really have that much foot to spare-" I mutter quietly.

Adele glares at me, "I just thought I'd make sure you appreciate the extreme stupidity of your little act last night," and with that she storms out.

I stare blankly at the door for a few more moments. Great. And here I had been hoping to make a friend out of her…

I suddenly feel all will to even live sink into the bed and I collapse backwards and bang my head on the wall. Ouch.

I moan pitifully as I slip down onto the bed. Lexi doesn't say anything for a few moments, just stares at the door Adele left open. Finally I hear her closing the door and then fluttering over to me.

I sit up quickly and look at her, "I'm going to fix this." I say determinedly, trying my best to be decisive before I lose it. I can't tell what emotion Lexi has on, but it doesn't look supporting.

"The rules are that I have to fit the story a certain amount, right?" I ask quickly.

"I have been trying to tell you that!" Lexi says throwing up her arms.

"Right well then, what is the first thing on your list, breakfast right?"

Lexi looks at me like I am spouting nonsense, then a big sharp toothed smile breaks out across her face as she suddenly catches my drift.

"Breakfast! With ham and eggs and milk and bread and-" she says getting very excited, a little too much in my opinion.

"Let's not get too carried away there, we are remembering my last breakfast monster right?" I warn. I don't think she hears.

Breakfast is almost as sorry an affair as last time, but at least I had more practice on my small feet and I didn't spill and drop as much of it so there were three edible things!

Exciting right?

Ham, and Lexi showed me where the cheese and fruit could be found, though I accidentally up rooted the grape vine in my attempt to grab a bunch… Shut up.

I figure that the steps probably couldn't take another breakfast like yesterday's or they might just disappear, so I pile the grapes on! It had nothing to do with the fact that there were way more than I needed…

I stuff my face with all three of the edible things until I am as full as I can possibly get. Hey, I am starving, the last thing I ate was a little ham after some of yesterday's… cleaning. I'll have to remember to fit in time to eat amidst all this chaos, except the stupid curse keeps speeding through all the times I get hungry, so I might as well stuff my face while I can.

I carry out plates each with some mucky eggs, cold ham and two large bunches of grapes per person, just spilling up, out, and over the plate. The steps look rather confusedly at the mountain of grapes I place in front of each of them as if wondering what I really expect them to do with it.

"Eat up!" I say, just in case they have forgotten or something. The grape mountains aren't THAT imposing.

I try to smile cheerily at Adele but she just looks at me confusedly. Maybe she'll catch on sooner or later, not everyone can be as brilliant as me. Speaking of which, you iggs are probably going to need some explaining. My plan is actually quite simple in theory, I work my butt off doing all the chores or what ever else Lexi tells me I am supposed to do to a T. Then I will hopefully rack up enough… what do you call them… plot points? (Hehe, plot points. Yeah, we are going to go with that.) Hopefully I will rack up enough plot points to be able to get off with Adele not having to cut off her heel. I'm not sure how I will manage it, probably just insist on going before the steps when it comes time to try on the shoes.

But it's a simple enough plan in theory, right? Not so much in the carrying out. You see the carrying out requires me to do EXACTLY what Lexi tells me to do, and she can get pretty demanding. Not to mention I have to CLEAN. I don't even have to clean my dorm at Grimm PT and I never clean my room at home, needless to say, I botch the job something awful. I can only hope that plot points are like Christmas presents, the thought that counts and all (not that that is really true, especially when receiving socks instead of toys, but we are getting off topic). As if that weren't enough, I mentioned how all the rooms look the same, right? So just in case it wasn't mind numbing enough that I FEEL like I am doing the exact same thing over and over again, I am pretty sure I did at least half of the rooms on the second floor TWICE.

**Adele was AN-GRY. Teehee, but her bark is a lot worse than her bite don't worry. And of course Elle thinks she was drunk! What would you think if you thought you had insulted your crush**** and you had a killer a headache?! No seriously, what WOULD you think?**


	9. A Friend?

A Friend?

An hour into the day I am starting to really regret my decision, and after an hour more I am seriously considering if it could really get worse if I just managed to get the curse to restart again before Adele had to cut off her heel. But I prevail and though I am ready to either strangle Lexi or curl up in a corner and just die, I make it to the dressing chaos again. Again I save Adele for last, again I sidle into her room, and again she addresses me first through the mirror.

"I saw you cleaning today," she states simply.

"It should have looked like I was doing the same yesterday," I say with a grin.

Adele smiles.

I beam, I got her to smile! It was almost even like a chuckle! Big serious Adele, not so scary with a smile!

"So the silver right?" I say making my way over to the wardrobe.

"Sure, I hardly care," she shrugs.

"Well, if you don't care, I like the blue-green one best," I say pushing past the silver dress in front and grabbing a much prettier one behind it. "It gives you more color," I say. And color can be important, especially when surrounded by the waif like steps, I almost feel like they are sapping the color out of me from just being near me!

"It also makes me look like Lexi trying to hold her breath," Adele chuckles. I am taken aback by her mention of Lexi, but even more so by the fact that she just made a joke! It feels almost like we are timid sort of friends joking around like this!

"Well, we can't have that!" I say, and Lexi puffs up all indignantly in her corner.

"Lexi, we all know how vain you are about your color," Adele calls out to the room, she turns to me, "She is in the room right?"

I nod at the corner, "She is turning this color even now," I say holding up the dress. I had just been kidding about not using it, it is quite pretty after all. Besides, I might as well flatter Lexi a little while I am at it. She is the keeper of the list. Flattery Good.

I do up Adele all pretty and she is admiring her self in the mirror when she suddenly turns to me, "Thank you."

I shrug, "you have all these pretty dresses lying about, you might as well wear them-"

"No I mean, you were cleaning to wrack up-"

"Plot points?" I supply.

She chuckles (HA! Again!) , "Sure, plot points, so that you can change the end, am I right?"

"Darn, you found me out!" I grin.

"Well, thank you, I don't even think I did most of the cleaning my time around, and judging by the awful job you did-"

I frown, ignoring the fact that it is true.

"-you don't do it often, so… it seems that I underestimated you."

I grin proudly, I was underestimated! Though when I say it like that it doesn't sound all that impressive.

We leave the room together, and she starts talking again just before we split up. "You know, I'm not sure why you got so angry and called your prince a troll, your heart has good taste, he's devilishly good looking if I may say so."

I break out laughing at the face she makes to accompany her evaluation of my Anthony. Yeah, MY Anthony, got a problem with it? He is MY true love after all, well, supposing he can forget about last night's fiasco.

"Yeah, I'm not sure why I said that either," I mutter, "I think I was drunk or something."

Adele raises an eyebrow. "Well, good luck then, lets try to stay sober tonight shall we?"

"Yeah…" I mutter to myself, rubbing the back of my head as Adele walks off to join the Steps and I head off to the kitchen again. Why would I even want to get drunk though? I ponder, it seems so out of character for me… I stop suddenly as I notice a lump on the back of my head that I hadn't noticed before. I poke it lightly, "Ouch!"

Well, that's a bruise.

What went on last night?! I shake my head and drop my hand back to my side as I start back up to the kitchen. Though I tell you that head bump probably didn't help my hangover this morning.

**Yeah, if you couldn't tell, I got a little bored with the top of this chapter and sort of skimmed through the majority of the day. Donovan will prolly make an appearance in the next chapter, depending on how long it is, I could still use witty comments!... I fear I fail at cleverness and wittiness.**


	10. How to Misplace a Magical Tree

**Yay! I'm excited this is officially my longest story chapter wise. Exciting right? Well, sorry about the wait, writer's block and all, but I am pushing through it because I love this story so much, so never fear!**

How to Misplace a Magical Tree

"So, which tree is it?" I ask Lexi as I stare out at what might at well be a forest behind the kitchen.

You are looking blank, have you ever even read the Grimm version of Cinderella? What did I tell you about keeping up? Iggs… WELL, in the Grimm version, there was no fairy GM there was a tree, that grew on her mother's grave that gave her three dresses, all I know is that it was a hazel tree.

What exactly a hazel tree looks like though… I am hopeless.

"Well?" I turn on Lexi who has failed to answer my question.

Lexi turns that brown color she gets when she is blushing, "I uh… I misplaced it."

"How do you misplace a magical tree?" I ask incredulously.

"I uh… it's just, look at them all, they all look the same!" she says, getting rather flustered.

My expression doesn't change.

"Stay here," Lexi orders, "I am going to go get some help." And with that she is gone. No poof, no smoke, not even so much as a pop, the first sensible thing I have seen in this crazy place, and coming from Lexi, I am stupefied. Though, where she is going I have no idea. Who exactly is going to help us find a-

My thoughts are interrupted by the speedy return of Lexi. "Well that was qu-" I start but am quickly interrupted by both a loud pop and an overuse of lavender smoke. I would groan if I wasn't choking on the lavender perfume mixed in with the smoke because who should be there but the Fairy GM. And here I was looking forward to talking to the tree. Fortunately though she is not paying attention to me, she is focused on yelling at Lexi.

"How did you manage to loose it? The Story was even kind enough to make it the only hazel tree out here!" I am struck dumb by the sudden change in personality on the GM. Her voice is even different, less… floaty. I hadn't even noticed, having been previously DYING on her strong "poof" scent, but as I manage to focus my tearing eyes again I realize her voice is not the only thing that has changed. She looks even more like a little old granny with hair curlers and a bathrobe, not to mention her lack of makeup. She must have been caking it on before because her face looks remarkably empty.

I quickly back away, leaving Lexi to her spluttering explanation and the GM to her… I don't even want to know if there are words for it.

I walk over to the small grove and start poking around the trees, tapping them, knocking on them, maybe there is some detail Lexi failed to notice. I may not know what a hazel tree looks like, but I sure know a magical tree when I see it! I get a few steps in and instantly recognize the tree. You want to know how? Honestly I am amazed Lexi wasn't able to tell, but then again, she is the spoon in the knife drawer, not that sharp.

There is a little bouquet of rotting flowers at the base of it. What proper grave doesn't have flowers right?

"Hey Lexi, found it!" I call over my shoulder. The GM and Lexi both halt their "conversation" and turn to me.

I smile innocently.

"You see? Even the girl has more sense than you! And SHE wasn't even told about the flowers," the GM says, apparently set on berating Lexi (she really isn't so bad!) for pulling her away from… probably bed…I hope.

"But I thought it was supposed to be out front!" Lexi whines, "I didn't think to look back here," I manage to hear her mutter.

"Well, next time think before you go bothering me!" the GM concludes, she is about to wave her wand again to poof back to whatever she was doing.

"Wait!" I call, "can't I get points for finding it or something? You don't expect me to try and cry again for it do you? Please!" I put on my most winning smile.

The GM just raises an eyebrow and rolls her eyes, but I see the side of her mouth quirk up just a little. She flicks her wand and is gone.

What?! Jerk?!

I am about to launch into a rant about how mean old women can be when the tree suddenly starts shaking. Some fluffy under garments land next to me. I grin.

I love that little old lady!

A corset lands next to that and then a shoe on top of it. The other shoe lands on my shoulder. "Owww, ouch ouch ouch!" I shriek and I am promptly stifled by a larger skirt thing, "Stupid- Cursed- Ahhh!!" I yelp as I quickly scrambled away from the war zone.

The tree gives one more shake like a dog and I swear I can hear its leaves making a sound like a vengeful laugh. Curse that GM! I look at the mass of clothes that has gathered under the tree…there are even more layers than last time! And I have to put them all on!? I think it did that just so it could have more things to drop on me.

I raise an eyebrow at the tree. "Can't we get something a little less here? How would you feel if I over heated just trying to get half of that stuff on?"

The tree gives a grumbly shake and out drops a teeshirt.

I swear the tree is laughing at me!

I growl and stomp over to the teeshirt, ball it up and throw it back up at the branches. "What if I actually wore just that to the ball, huh? Maybe you wanna stop playing your games and give me a decent dress here?"

The tree groans and shakes one last time and down drops a green dress, simpler, and much more modern. I nod, smile even.

No grass stains!

**So yeah, kinda short, pretty much just a nice goofy little chapter, the next will be a little more serious... not that that counts for much XP  
**


	11. Déjà Vu

**Alright guys, sorry for the wait! Summer camps and what not. Anyway, this here is one of my favorite chapters thus far and nice and long to boot. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it!**

Déjà Vu

I step out of the carriage again and am instantly hit with a wave of déjà vu so strong that I get hiccups again.

CURSES! And I'm not even wearing a corset or laughing! I hate hiccups. I glare at Lexi, wanting to blame her. I shouldn't, not that that stops me.

I hiccup all the way up the stairs. Remembering my first walk up here but nothing past that. It is all exactly the same. Same empty hallways, same tapestry that I wanted to hide behind, same fear… but a look at the guard from last time gets me walking up to the top of the stairs again. Just as I did last time I scan the crowd and see no Anthony, I wobble carefully down the steps, though not quite so bad as last time. And I find my self in the same empty faced crowd.

I HATE THIS!

Oh dear Grimm, please let the déjà vu end soon! I promise I will be as good as my sarcasm allows me to be and I will never try and make the story repeat again! It might even be bearable if I could just remember up to what point I had to repeat to!

And as you must have figured out by now (and if you haven't just stop reading now and leave) when nervous and fearful, I get angry or I collapse and seeing as I was not about to collapse. "Anthony? Where are you?" I mutter angrily under my breath.

ARG I already did that!

"You owe me an explanation and an apology."

And with that voice, all of last night comes rushing back to me. A LITTLE LATE! Now I can't run away or hide or…

A hand on my shoulder pulls me around and I find my self face to face with Donovan. AGAIN!!

I think I will just melt now. I am going to go curl up in a corner and die. As if it's not bad enough that he had to see me yesterday in all my hiccupy grass stained glory, now I am wearing a slightly more revealing dress and… I might have to TALK to him… civilly… though I don't think it will go THAT far.

This time though I don't even pause before I start glaring. "Why are you STILL here?!"

"If you would shut up for a minute you might realize that I was just about to ask YOU that." he retorts.

"I- I-" I fluster.

"How have you gone and messed up this time?" he says, interpreting my flustered state as embarrassment or guilt or something silly and completely unfounded like that.

"You can't just automatically assume that this is somehow my fault!" I shoot back indignantly. Not a word you.

"You mean, just because it probably is?" he says cockily, stupid git.

"You have no-"

"Proof? You mean besides the fact that the last time I saw you, you were raging angry at me? And I am supposing this is a curse so you probably tried to curse me, though seeing as you are here something went wrong, AND the fact that you are the only other person I know here?" Drat he's sharp.

I glare at him and am about to come up with a brilliant reply but Lexi chooses just that moment to show up again. And beside her is a male pixie with the same blue-green skin and spiky hair.

Who is he?

Did the curse decide I needed ANOTHER little pixie to order me around? I was being good!

"Dray…" Donovan groans. Oh, it's his pixie.

See, I can be sharp too.

"I'm supposing the other is yours?" he mutters.

I glare at him and refuse to reply, not that I would have had much time to do so anyway. As soon as Lexi and… Dray? Are within speaking distance they start chattering and ordering us about.

"Why aren't you dancing yet?"

"You are supposed to be dancing!"

"You are supposed to be falling in love right now."

I gag at the last bit.

Never.

Ever.

The curse has OBVIOUSLY messed up, and I am not in denial or anything, I am simply stating the facts, pure and simple.

"You-" Donovan starts, but I interrupt quickly.

"No," I say calmly to the pair, "Sorry, but you have obviously messed up, I'm going to go find the real prince now, bye." I say quickly and before any of them can say anything I am running off through the crowd.

Now see how easy that was?

While wandering through the blank faced puppets I come to two theories as to why Donovan is here. Both require you to know a fact that I don't even like to acknowledge myself.

Anthony and Donovan are so close they are almost brothers.

How Anthony can even stand him is beyond me, which is why I normally try to ignore the fact. But acknowledging it now is better than accepting that the curse is trying to get me to fall in love with a troll. My first theory is that the curse has just carted Donovan along to play some sort of role, maybe it is like The False Princess just with a Prince… it's possible! The other theory is that the curse just got confused. The two are constantly together, it probably just picked Donovan up accidentally, though how it could confuse Anthony for a troll I have no idea. So all I have to do is somehow convince the curse that it got it wrong!

But how am I going to do that if I am stuck trying to follow the story?!

It's a dilemma. Speaking of which, I should go find Adele, if anyone can help me, it would probably be her.

I wander to the outskirts of the crowd and find Adele in a corner near the thrones. She is staring rather blankly at the crowd and barely even registers as I approach.

"Any luck?" she asks distantly as I approach her.

"I haven't found him yet," I shake my head, coming to rest against the pillar next to her. I join her in dress watching. The people obviously aren't very interesting, but the dresses are all more modern and different enough to be a source of entertainment.

Adele looks at me strangely, "Really? He should have found you by now. I saw him go off towards you in the crowd, were you hiding or something?"

"No," I sigh, "I haven't seen him at all yet! Just this jerk from school, who keeps claiming he's the prince."

All of her attention is now focused on me, "Elle, there are no spare guys in here, just the fact that he's not a puppet, not to mention if you recognize him. He's probably your prince."

I laugh, "But see, I hate him, that is why I was yelling at him last night!" I explain, somehow still thinking it funny. "I wasn't drunk after all! And speaking of which, the guy I was thinking of is very handsome, Donovan is a troll."

Adele looks at me worriedly, "Trust me, I know the feeling, that the curse must have gotten it all wrong," she says. "Why do you think I got stuck here? But it isn't worth it just to be stubborn, just pretend and get out of here while you can," she says seriously.

"Well, what happens if I don't?" I ask, not yet worried, "Won't it just accept it and pick someone else? The curse I mean-"

She shakes her head and I frown.

"But- but it's the wrong guy! The curse just got confused and picked the wrong guy-" I try, but my voice sounds whiney even to me.

"Just try and stand it for a few hours and you will never have to bother with him again," she advises.

"But- but he goes to my school and you haven't met him, if I give him anything he will taunt me with it forever."

Adele gives me a look and I shut up, but just for a minute, "You know what, talk to him for like ten seconds and you will see what I am on about."

Adele raises an eyebrow.

"I'm not saying I won't do it, I'm just letting you fully appreciate that it will not only be difficult to convince him to go along with this, but I am going to need to have someone I can complain about him to! Someone to understand my suffering!"

Adele smiles, "Alright, lets go meet this troll then."

As we start off through the crowd Adele mentions, "You know, we aren't really supposed to be talking."

I shrug, "Please, I'm sure Cinderella and the stepsisters talk all the time, it's just supposed to be insulting or something, but if the curse is counting what I actually say, then I am dead, because there is no way I can be civil to Donovan for more than ten seconds, and that is just enough to say 'Don't talk to me!'."

We laugh. It's nice to have a friend in a place like this.

As we approach Donovan though, the smile melts off my face.

"Dairson, there you are, knew you couldn't stay away," he looks so smug I just want to hit him. He shuts up and raises and eyebrow though as he spots Adele. Well he should, he chases every pretty girl he sets eyes on and with my amazing dressing skills, Adele is gorgeous.

Thank you, thank you. Yes I AM amazing.

"Hello," Donovan says, I think he is trying to be flirtatious or charming. He fails miserably on both counts.

Adele giggles, "Well, so far you were right," she mutters to me.

Donovan looks put out.

I am happy to see that Lexi and… the other pixie, have been hanging around Donovan, hopefully annoying him to no end. Unfortunately though, as soon as they spot me, they start muttering together. I stop listening to Donovan trying to win Adele over, (I'm not too worried, she seems pretty sensible) and I start watching the two pixies probably plotting all sorts of misfortune for us.

Suddenly they attack. Both pixies go for their individual targets' ears and start whispering furiously.

I try to swipe at Lexi as she grabs my ear, the wind in my ear is anything but comfortable, but she starts pinching my earlobe.

OUCH!

I can only console myself that it is probably more painful for Donovan with his elf ears.

I growl at her and keep trying to flick her away but she is a determined little fly!

"You have to… you owe Adele… do you want her to have to cut of her heel just because you don't want to dance?" I stop. I look guiltily at Adele, who is glaring at the male pixie and bite my lip. I glance, well, glare over at Donovan who is… looking at my general direction… strangely.

I would kill to know what that pixie is black mailing him with, because whatever it is he walks over, grabs my arm, and says "We're dancing." Orders is more like it.

I glare and wrench my hand back, "Not if you are asking me like that."

"I'm not exactly asking am I?" Donovan says glaring at me. And he had been acting almost civil before. WHAT did that pixie say?!

I glare.

"Shall we dance?" he growls.

"Fine," I glare and allow myself to be dragged onto the dance floor. Now I must impress on you, how much of a sacrifice this is for me. I HATE dancing. With a passion, it's so awkward, I hate being so close to other people, I hate how complex it is… I hate it. The fact that my dance partner is Donovan only makes it worse. Much worse.

Not only do I hate him but of course he has to show me up doing it! Elves are naturally graceful and strong with great hearing to boot. I have managed to work until I am almost even with him in the latter two, but I am not in anyway graceful, and with my tiny little feet, I am a lost cause. At least I lost my hiccups somewhere back there.

Nope, there they go again.

We stand staring at each other in the middle of the dance floor.

"Which dance?" Donovan asks me shortly. I am grateful that for the moment he seems to have forgotten how terribly I did in dance classes.

And then as if reading my mind, "because we both know that you dance like a hippopotamus on stilts."

Troll. I decide to ignore the comment…for now. Revenge will come in the form of my "bad" dancing, all over his feet.

My first thought is waltz, because it is the simplest. But it is rather… close to your partner.

My next thought is… no I need to do the waltz, I will fall and break something if I try anything else.

"Waltz," I say shortly.

"Fine," and we take our positions, as far apart as the dance will allow.

I begin my struggle to stay upright.

"Now that I have your attention-" Donovan starts.

"Don't make me kick you again," I stop him.

"Now is that anyway to treat your True Love?" he says smugly.

I would have kicked him if I wasn't suddenly being swung around like a rag doll. I stumble through the spin and return to his hold too dizzy to even think about lifting my foot enough to kick him.

"You ch-eated," I hiccup.

He laughs at me… Troll.

"Who told you," I demand.

"I can read your mind, it's my favorite part about this curse!"

I curse furiously, words that aren't suitable for your poor Igg ears. If he can read my mind- oh curses, what if he is reading it right now?

I look up at his smirk and realize the joke at my expense, "Li-ar," but my accusation is ruined. "Lexi told you didn't she."

He grins.

"Trai-tor."

"She was much more helpful than Dray," he shrugs.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway," I growl, "because the curse messed up."

His face is impassive as he says, "Oh because it's Anthony is it?"

I pale, oh right, I asked him about that.

"No."

"Please," he glares, "even if I had forgotten about yesterday, I see the way you look at him every time we pass in the halls."

I glare back, "I do not-"

"You can be so dense sometimes, you think that just because he isn't watching that no one else is?" How does he always manage to make me feel like an idiot? I think that must be another elfish talent.

-Make Elle Dairson feel like she is losing brain cells just by looking at you.

-Point out everything Elle Dairson does wrong.

-Be a jerk.

That is unfair, I know plenty of nice elves. It's just him.

"Oh, you're wa-tching me?" I point out, defensively, "You may tease about you being my true love, but it goes both ways and that would have to mean that you are in lov-e with me."

He snorts. "Right. I would rather kiss a troll."

"At least we can agree on that," I say, "But too bad, because it is the only way to get out of here."

"Right, the bugs mentioned that," Donovan says darkly. "But you can't complain too much," he says, a grin touching his lips, I can see where this is going but he spins me again before I can stop him. He continues as he pulls me back in, "After all at least you get to kiss me, I am not as fortunate to get someone as good looking."

I slap him and pull away, stopping our dance half way through.

"You troll!"

"I think you have already said that, can't you come up with a better insult?" he shoots back.

"I can't believe the curse could mist-ake you for Anthony!" I yell at him.

"Oh because you know him so well, do you Dairson?" Donovan says, his glare intensifying.

"I at least know he is more of a gentleman than you could ever be!" Cliched line I know, but…

"And why am I not a gentleman?" Donovan challenges, his voice dangerously quiet. I think it is an elf thing how threatening he is managing to look

"I- I-," I struggle to come up with a specific reason. "A gentleman wouldn't let a lady just fa-ll down the stairs like that!" I think of the most glaringly obvious and recent example.

"A lady wouldn't shove a gentleman so that he can't catch her when she stupidly throws herself off balance," he retorts.

"A gentleman wouldn't have thrown me in the lake after I accidentally dropped my lunch on him!" I shoot.

"We both know that wasn't an accident," he shrugs. (Actually, that time had been, like I would waste my lunch on the likes of him.)

"He wouldn't lock me in the library so I was late to finals freshman year!"

"I can't believe you still remember that, but if you will fight that selective memory of yours, the period before you'd tried to convince Ms Tolder that I was cheating. Besides you got to retake it later."

I glare but keep pushing. "He wouldn't try to choke me in fighting class!"

"In case you didn't recall, you started it," he says pointing at his eyebrow which is still healing from the incident, "and at least I held back. Since you didn't seem to notice- you only got a few bruises, and I STILL have some injuries. And I'M a fey!" (They heal faster, since I don't think you would have caught that on your own… iggs.)

"Anthony wouldn't have tu-rned Jaz down so ru-dely and public-ly as you did!" I shout finally.

I think the hiccups are getting worse.

Donovan's face takes on a look that clearly says 'so this is what this is all about', "Anthony wouldn't turn her down at all," he says quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You ARE dense," he says looking me squarely in the eye.

"What?" I say, getting more and more frustrated by the second.

"You know why crushes are called crushes? Because they usually end up being crushingly disappointing," he informs me oh-so-sagely. "Anthony likes Jaz, and that is why I couldn't say yes," he confides.

My stomach sinks all the way down to my toes. And here I had been so convinced every time he was looking over at our table, he was smiling at me. I had somehow managed to convince myself that he might maybe just like me back but we were both just too nervous to admit it.

I shake my head and glare at Donovan, am I actually listening to him?

"You're ly-ing." I accuse.

"Believe what you like," he shrugs, "Now I believe we were supposed to be dancing?"

I refuse to say another word to him the rest of the night (because if I had I think my voice might have cracked if I didn't break down completely) and at least half of the times I stepped on his feet were not on accident.

Midnight comes and I can't get out of there fast enough. I don't even say goodbye to Adele.

I wanted to punch Donovan as a parting gift. I REALLY wanted to. But I am pretty sure THAT would have been noticed by that curse. I hope Adele realizes how much I am doing for her… Maybe she could slap him for me later?

I storm down the stairs and into the carriage that is waiting there for me, all terribly antsy to take off. As the horses take off I can only think how much I refuse to believe anything the troll has said. It can't be true it can't! It's all like some bad soap opera! Anthony is my true love!

The carriage disappears halfway down the road, and I, left still moving through empty air, land on my butt and skid onto my face. I am left alone on a dirt road in my raggedy dress. So with some abundant and creative curses I end up following Lexi the rest of the way back to the house. I enter through the kitchen and my limbs feel numb, but it has nothing to do with my walk.

I stumble upstairs and collapse on the bed.

If crying weren't stupid and useless, I think I would be doing that now. But I don't. I curl up on my bed and fall asleep, continuing to list all of the reasons why Donovan is lying and shouldn't be trusted.

He's a troll

I hate him

He ALWAYS lies

He's a troll

He loves making my life miserable

He's a troll

He's just trying to avoid my anger

He's a troll

He's a TROLL

I hate him so much…

**Isn't it nice to finally get some insight into the ridiculously difficult to write, cocktail of sarcastic comments that is Donovan? Still open to suggestions and witty help!**


	12. A Simple Bath

**Awww, thanks all for the nice long reviews, they make me all fuzzy inside! And just for that I have a nice long chapter for you, along with another little taste of Donovan! We finally get to finish up Cinderella, YAY! How exciting.**

A Simple Bath

"Wake up."

I should really be getting used to this, this is what the third time? But something about this sort of wake-up call is just more and more ineffective every time I hear it. It must be the high pitched voice.

I don't move, I don't even groan.

Maybe if I pretend I died- I hold my breath.

No dice.

"Wake up!" Lexi says. Wow, she is getting annoyed already? Come on, I was as close to a perfect little angel as she is getting here! I can remember all of last night thank you! Quite an accomplishment I think.

Though I think it might be better if I couldn't.

Uhg. I danced with DONOVAN.

I need a bath. I DESPERATELY need a bath. Preferably in some sort of strong corrosive solution.

I sigh and peek out of my eyelids. I don't think she is buying the dead act. I see her blurry figure floating closer to my bed. Just the simple action is threatening, I bet even YOU could guess why.

"If you pinch me, I swear, I will feed you to the steps for breakfast!"

She crosses her arms and sticks out her tongue.

I push myself slowly up.

"So, I made it to the next day, right?" I say finally.

"Yep!" Lexi says taking up an overly cheerful grin.

Can you say bi-polar?

"See what happens when you do what you are supposed to?" she bubbles. I should have been expecting something like that.

"Wow, yeah! Blisters on my feet, soap burns on my hands, everything is sore- I am so glad I did this!" SARCASM.

Lexi chooses to ignore this comment apparently.

"Well, it shouldn't be that much longer, the Prince ought to come some time today and-"

I interrupt her, "Firstly, Donovan is no prince, and second, if I don't get a shower or a bath soon, I think I may just die." Cooties you know, dangerous things.

Lexi just stares at me rather blankly.

"Come on, doesn't Cinderella get a bath occasionally?" I whine.

Lexi mutters something about it not being on the schedule.

"It's settled then!" I say, pretending to be as cheerful as her, "where's the shower?"

"The closest thing I think you can get is the tub downstairs in the kitchen," Lexi mutters.

I smile, "Now was that so hard?"

"You'll have to heat your own water!" Lexi calls as I start hobbling towards the stairs (all the dancing last night did nothing for my balance).

"Why must this curse be so difficult and deny me any modern conveniences?" I say in what might have been a frustrated voice if I hadn't been so grateful just to get the bath at all. My standards are sinking like a stone…

I stumble downstairs.

As I sneak to the kitchen, I take a moment to peek in the dining room. I'm just curious if the steps really do just wait there until I move the story along and bring them breakfast.

Oh breakfast, what a plot point!

But no, they aren't quite as pitiful as I had thought, the room is empty. I quickly stumble through the kitchen and out to the yard. I pull up some tomatoes this time… I mistook them for lame grape bunches… they were small!

Shut up! How am I supposed to know that an unripened tomato looks like a mutant grape? I'm book smart, common sense is NOT a part of the deal.

So they got some green tomatoes with their cold ham. I think I am becoming quite the chef here!

I dump the plates in the dining room and since I didn't bother with milk or cooking or anything else I am so early they aren't even there.

HA! Can't comment on breakfast now, can'ya?

I return gratefully to the kitchen and set about pulling out the bath, which is more like a big metal bucket. And it comes, screeching and protesting all the way as I drag it nearer the fireplace and try to heat some water in another bucket.

I miss the dorm showers.

NEVER thought I'd say that. They're not exactly the prettiest place to clean oneself.

Soon, not as soon as if they'd given me a cursed faucet, but soon enough, I am curled awkwardly in the tub and soaking.

The warm water is soothing to my aching everything.

I consider myself very in shape, but my theory is that you sprout new muscles for cleaning JUST so they can hurt. So while my new "cleaning muscles" start to relax, the warm water and sitting still does very little to soothe my thoughts.

As soon as I close my eyes and try to relax, all of last night comes rushing at me like Lexi with cleaning to enforce. I think I had been trying to block out the last bit of my conversation with Donovan. I try continuing the wonderful idea to ignore it.

Out of mind, out of existence. Or as far as I care.

After all he was OBVIOUSLY just lying, trying to ruin my life, which is nothing new. Anthony doesn't like Jaz, Donovan's just trying to plant the doubt in my head. Trying to get me to think about it and question it, waste hours of my life pondering something which is really just nothing more than a rumor, just because I worry that it might possibly be true. But it couldn't be because it is IMPOSSIBLE for him to tell the truth! Therefore I refuse to think about it. How am I doing so far?

After a while my mind grants me some relief and begins to drift to other things. I start to recall how the troll had been flirting with Adele.

I know what she said, agreeing with my dislike of him, but I am minoring in IGA and I can notice when some one is at the very least flattered, much less interested in someone. I mean when is the last time she probably got compliments from someone? Much less someone… she… considers… good looking.

Oh I can barely believe I even thought that!

But, if nothing else, perhaps that might be a good way to draw some of Donovan's attention away from me (and his attention towards me pretty much results in me being miserable) and give Adele a little reason to smile more often. Or at least until I can figure out how to get out of here.

I KNOW I told Adele I would at least try to get out of this stupid curse by just playing along, but you must have figured out by this point, following the rules is not really my style. I'll just have to get creative. And I already have a few ideas… well, one. But it's all I have until I can figure out how to get some more information about the nature of this curse. I am thinking I just sit around long enough, not even TRYING to go through the fairy tale it can't just repeat the fairy tale forever. I just have to find a good fairy tale to hole up in for a while and see what happens!

I think I fall asleep by this point. Just soaking in the lukewarm water and turning into the world's biggest raisin.

"Wake UP! WAKE UP you lazy!!"

I groan, I could have sworn I'd already done this, this morning.

Suddenly I remember where I am. I squeal and curl up as small as I can under the water, curse it curse it curse it curseitcurseit!

I really shouldn't stay up till midnight…

My muscles protest. Great, now I have a crick in my back… and my neck… and my legs… lets not forget the water is freezing cold by this point and I am stark naked.

I HATE THIS CURSE!!

"Hurry up hurry up!" Lexi is absolutely frantic. Geez it's just cleaning… "Come on hurry out and get dressed right now! The prince is here and Christanne is about to cut off her toes!"

I blink confusedly, "Who's Chr-"

"The other step!" Lexi waves her little arms at me.

Ogre poop.

"Close your eyes!" I say, now in almost as much a rush as her. Of all the things to wake up late for-

Lexi scurries out, tossing another "Hurry!" over her shoulder.

I grimace as my body protests to the sudden movement, my water wrinkled skin is not feelin' too great either. I pull my clothes back on, not even bothering to dry off first. This does nothing for my EXTREME discomfort at the moment.

I can only imagine how I must look as I run out of the kitchen, my wet hair slapping my back and sticking to my face, soaking my already damp dress.

Crud, where is Lexi? I don't know where I am supposed to go!

I skid around the floors on my wet little feet checking room after room. Where ARE they? I cleaned the whole downstairs so I know my way around and I swear I have checked EVERY room!

"What are you doing?!" Lexi is suddenly behind me, her braids are even more askew than normal and she looks almost black with all the blood rushing to her face.

"I- where are they?" I say quickly dismissing the question.

"Hurry! Adele can't stall much longer!" Lexi says as she flies down the hall. I am huffing after her, flying down the halls as fast as my malformed feet will carry me. I could swear I already checked this hallway, curse this changing house! Lexi suddenly darts into a room and I skid around the corner as I shout-

"That is my shoe!"

I find myself with three sets of very confused eyes focused on me, and Donovan, who is looking at me like he is planning all the things he can use this black mail for. I can see his fingers just itching, like he wished he had a camera in his hands.

Did I mention what a I mess I must look like? The running and flushed face probably didn't help, not to mention by this point just about everything I am wearing is damp. But at least no one is missing any body parts.

When no one says anything and just keeps staring at me, I start plucking at my dress awkwardly. It continues for a few more seconds and I start to get angry.

"What are you looking at?" I glare around the room.

Well that starts HIM off. He starts laughing and snickering off in his corner. I glare something awful at the malicious elf.

Adele however has the grace to look gratefully at me. And I could be mistaken, but that might be a little gratitude mixed into the steps' blank faces… I am probably just imagining it though.

Not that I don't deserve a little thanks after this amazing save! I just did a lot for them I will remind you!

"Shut up troll face," I resume glaring at Donovan, getting thoroughly tired of his laughing. "You probably have no idea what was just about to happen, Igg!" I say frusteratedly. He probably doesn't either! Other wise he wouldn't be laughing! Or at least he shouldn't be. And if he DOES know and is still laughing, then I underestimated how much of a foul and awful person he can be!

Donovan shuts up and glares at me. Well, I did call him an Igg. (It's not an insult when it's true, so stop looking at me like that, it's not even that much of an insult to human Relizers, but if you call a Fey Realizer an Igg, well, Grimm help you. But curse him, I would take my chances.)

"Please enlighten me, Dairson," Donovan says his voice suddenly like steel (I swear with the way his mood swings I can only to shudder to think how bad it would be if he were a girl.)

"I know your sad little brain has a very difficult time being serious but please, recall the Grimm version of Cinderella," I shoot back.

He pales noticeably, "I see, well then, your shoe?" he holds up the glass slipper I had so graciously NOT broken on the stairs for him. That's more like it, at least he has the sense not to push the subject further.

"Yeah, that's right," I glare at him walking forward, "and not a word about how wrinkly my feet are!" I warn him.

He cracks a smile again, "Wouldn't dream of it your raisiny-ness," he says as I walk over.

Adele catches my eye, smiles, and mouths, "Thank you," at me as I force myself to walk towards Donovan. I shake my head. Oh do they ALL owe me!

Donovan is holding out the slipper like he is actually planning on putting it on my foot, creeper.

I snatch the slipper out of his hand, "I am perfectly capable of putting it on myself" I say as I shove it on my wrinkled up foot. Ha! I did it I finished the fairy tale!

I look up and see Donovan just smiling and shaking his head at me before everything suddenly goes black like some one just turned off the world.

Crap, I hope I don't faint and smack my head again… that is still smarting.


	13. Dream Logic

**Yeah, just a short little chapter to tide you over while I go off and play ungodly amounts of Volleyball! Ah yes, death by volleyball, the best way to go. Anyway, I promise to have the next actual fairy tale for you when I get back, but for now, meet, some new characters, it's good for you.**

Dream Logic

I am really starting to wonder what is going on. I am just sort of floating in blackness right now, and I am really getting frustrated here. The curse is like a slow computer. It takes forever to load the next level!

Suddenly shapes start to come up around me. I can't really explain it, it's just like all around me, things just slowly start to exist.

FINALLY!

But as things start to come in focus, I realize this is familiar! It's history class! The familiar Mr. Torts up front droning away in front of the black board, the familiar globe and weird two-sided cone sit on his desk, the familiar half conscious students sitting in desks at regular intervals-

Oh JOY!

I'm back! Oh just WAIT until it finishes loading will I ever give the teacher an earful about never mentioning that curse! But thank GRIMM I am out of there! I don't know what I did, or if the curse finally realized its mistake but I am back home!

I am so busy thinking all of these happy thoughts that I don't even notice when things stop appearing halfway through! I am left with just a ghost of my world.

"WHAT!" I near scream when it finally hits me. "NO! This is NOT fair!" I growl, almost to the point of madness.

"Elle!" a familiar voice says behind me. "Oh thank Grimm, I was starting to get worried! Don't you ever skip again without telling me too!"

I spin around to see my best friend in the whole wide worlds grinning at me with her hands on her hips.

I rush over and hug her, "Oh, Jaz!" I squeal, "You have no idea what an awful time I have just had! I had to CLEAN and COOK!"

"Oh dear, I am surprised the castle is still standing after that!" Jaz says grinning.

"No it wasn't the castle, I accidentally cursed myself!" I look around, "Why can't I just come back all the way!" I say frusteratedly.

Jaz suddenly looks very worried, "You cursed yourself? Dear, we have to get you to the nurse right now! Mr Torts!" she says raising her hand to the ram headed teacher up front.

He ignores her. "Mr TORTS!" Jaz presses.

I suddenly realize that Jaz is the only completely solid object in this entire room. In fact, wouldn't Mr. Tort have noticed my sudden appearance in the middle of his class?! Much less Jaz and I standing up in the middle of the room and just chatting away about skipping. Why hadn't I noticed something like that sooner? It's almost like… oh no…

"Dream logic," I mutter.

"Elle, what is going on?" Jaz turns to me. I look over to our normal seats and see someone is seated in Jaz's. I stride over (Ohmygrimm, I can stride! My feet are normal again!) and look at ghost Jaz, the same purple hair and sparkly rainbow makeup, I look up at the other Jaz.

"I should stop sleeping in class," she says as if it is completely normal.

"Yeah…" I mutter, "AHG!" I growl suddenly, "NOT FAIR!!"

Jaz looks worriedly at me again. "Elle, what is going on?"

"Hardly even know!" I moan and just to make it worse, the classroom starts fading again, "Jaz!" I exclaim, "I think I have to go, but I promise I will try to be back! Get some help okay?"

"What?" she says, he face getting frantic, "No Elle, where are you going back to?"

"The curse is taking me back! It's called True Love's Curse and it's trying to get me to kiss Donovan!" I try and explain as hurriedly as I can, but I fear I am not even saying anything useful.

"What?" Jaz says, shocked, "You and Donovan?" she starts to look hurt, oh dear, no Jaz! "I think the curse got confused! It is convinced Donovan is my true love no matter how much I yell at him and insult him!"

Jaz looks slightly calmed, these are the sort of things she would expect from me. Not the cursing and dream meeting… the insulting of Donovan. But how sad that she STILL likes him enough to be jealous of ME…

"Jaz, get help from the teachers!" I can barely even make out the other students now.

Jaz nods, "Don't die!" she warns me shaking her finger at me, and suddenly she is gone, I just get a glimpse of her falling right out of her desk as she shouts, "MR TOR-" but it breaks off like a bad phone connection and I am left in darkness again.

CURSES!!


	14. To Grandmother's House We Go

**Alright, so I ended up writing an even longer chapter than I was planning, like twice as long. Be grateful! ****I really had a lot of fun writing this chapter, some of the sarcastic lines are my new favorites, hope you like it too.**

To Grandmother's House We Go

I woke up groggily, yawning and stretching and groaning about how I couldn't fall back asleep. You don't really appreciate this whole routine until your alarm clock is Lexi for a few days.

I lay for a few more minutes like this, enjoying the whole relaxing feeling of waking up slowly. Finally though I hear. "Oh come on, how long are you going to take?"

Lexi.

My relaxation level drops instantly. Of course I am being unfair, half of that is due to the fact that as soon as she speaks I open my eyes and see I am in a forest which only serves to remind me of all the recent stressful things in my life…it's still kind of her fault in a way.

"Great, which fairy tale is it now?" I moan lifting my self up from the nice soft grass bed I had been lying in, though I am pretty sure it gave me little grass dents on my face.

"Look down," Lexi says vaguely.

I am tempted to say, 'Really? Never heard of that one.' Oh so tempted, but I just keep my mouth shut and look down.

Stretched under me is some crumpled up red cloth… I pick it up and shake it out a little.

Care to guess what it is? Yes, it's a riding hood for those Iggs who are still intent on making go crazy. As in a Little Red Riding Hood.

Well, it could be worse.

"So do I get some sort of basket? You know, off to Grandmas house with some cookies and muffins and a bottle of vodka?" I address Lexi.

She gives me one of Those Looks. I smile innocently.

"It's over by the tree," she says, making a face.

I sigh, and push myself up. You may be a little confused by my sudden obedience to the story. Well, the truth was, I was just planning. See, now that I have my plan, I might as well just execute it right? And what better place than in the middle of the woods with a basket full of food?

I check the basket and sure enough, all sorts of baked goods, no vodka though. Not that I would drink it, even thinking that I had been drunk is enough to instill a fear of the stuff.

"Alright," I say, pulling out one of the cookies out and eating it.

What? I'm hungry.

I quickly spit it out though, it looks like chocolate chip, tastes like cardboard. "Gross."

Lexi gives me one of her 'That's what you get' glares. I am getting scared that I am already starting to be able to decode her glares.

"Which way is grandma's house?" I growl, still trying to spit the taste out of my mouth.

"Uhh, that way," Lexi hesitates but after a moment chooses that darker way.

Typical. I go the opposite direction.

"What!" Lexi flutters up all offended.

"I have to go back and get some better cookies!" I declare, "If I fed these to an old woman I think I might accidentally kill her!"

"Wait wait, you need your hood!" Lexi says, swooping down and struggling to float the thing over to me.

I roll my eyes, "It is way too hot for that."

It instantly gets colder.

I snatch the cloak away from Lexi, "Stupid curse," I growl, wrapping the little thing around me for whatever warmth it may offer. I walk a few minutes, complaining profusely about everything I can think of, when it finally hits me, why isn't Lexi putting up more of a fight?

No, she's just floating along, perfectly content, or as far as content goes with the crazy pixie. What gives?

I stop and look right at her. She doesn't even bother with a "It's not in the story!"

I think it's a different pixie.

"You are Lexi right?" I say slowly.

She looks at me confusedly, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Suddenly something clicks, I really hate that.

"I'm still going to Grandma's house aren't I?"

Lexi smiles and nods, "You catch on quick!"

I growl in frustration and sit down right in the middle of the road. I cross my legs, my arms, my fingers, and my eyes and refuse to move. I am quite cross… bad pun.

A while later I have still not moved. I have little red marks on my arms from Lexi pinching me and I think my ears are about to start bleeding if I hear one more thing about how I will have to repeat the story.

Maybe this wasn't my best idea.

I survive what must have been an hour by this point. Lexi has given up and disappeared, and I am nibbling other things in the basket, so far though, I have come to the conclusion that the only person who could have baked a more unappetizing basket is me.

Suddenly I hear a crackle in the forest. I look around, I hadn't seen any other signs of life in this crazy place, so what was that?

"Lexi?" I call out.

There is a second crackle, and a deer steps out of the forest. Well, what do you know, they have cute little animal props.

I hear a third crackle behind me and I turn to see a raccoon, peeking out of the forest in the same creepy way the deer is. Suddenly I am surrounded on all sides by creepy little forest animals and I am starting to freak out.

They all approach me, and they keep coming.

I yell at them, I wave my hands. I'm a sight, but what do you want me to do? I don't evehn get a properly sized stick to wave at them deranged animals.

Much too quickly to even properly think about, I am being tightly squeezed by a wave of furry little creatures and they are forcing me down the path!

I scream and wave my arms for a while, but it is useless.

Well, that is one plan down the drain.

Note to self, completely ignoring the story will cause deranged forest animals to kidnap you,

After a while I just loose the will to fight it and I walk along with the wave. I have little else to do other than to wonder how exactly Little Red Riding Hood includes true love… I mean, it seems kinda random. Even if it would be quite fitting for Donovan to be the wolf.

Oh Grimm! That would be amazing! He would not only be a wolf, but he would be wearing the whole night dress and cap thing. AND I would be justified in beating him with a large stick! Oh the embarrassment, oh the blackmail! Suddenly I am in a much better mood.

My feet are starting to hurt by the time we reach a cute little house in the middle of this forsaken forest. The animals back up slowly, creating a circle around both me and the house, just to make sure I go it.

"Thanks guys, I got it from here," I say with a fake smile. I would hardly pass up an opportunity to see Donovan in a dress.

"Well, go in already!"

I yelp as I hear Lexi uncomfortably close to my ear. I think she is enjoying this too much. I glare at her, warring between whether to draw out my entrance to bother her, or to rush in and mock Donovan.

I exert some self restraint and fix my hair, make sure my hood is straight, I dust off my shirt, organize the rolls in the basket, fix my hood again, whistle a little tune, enjoy Lexi's quickly darkening face, anything to waste some time.

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy frustrating Lexi?

Finally, when I decide that if I push this any farther Lexi may just explode, I put on an overly sweet smile, turn to all of the crazed prop animals, and say "Goodbye my little animal friends, you have all just been oh so very helpful."

I am surprised I didn't start choking after I said that.

And after all this build up, I open the door.

Pretty anticlimactic.

But then I guess it's just my inner realizer worrying about that sort of stuff. Anyway, I open the door, and if my eyes could throw up, I'm pretty sure they would. The room is absolutely teeming with ugly little crocheted kittens and some hideous pink wallpaper. Did I mention it smells like old people?

I sigh and step in, Lexi manages to sneak through the door just as I am closing it. I glance around, it seems like I'm in the kitchen, "Grandma?" I call frustratedly.

Timid? Sweet? No, not really working for me.

"In here sweetie," a scratchy deep voice calls form the room ahead.

How ANYONE could EVER confuse that voice for a grandmother? I shudder just thinking about the stupidity of the ditz who would confuse THAT voice for a little old lady who crochets KITTENS! The only thing that could possibly be scarier is if there was a grandma who really DID sound like that.

I also lose all will to go find that stupid wolf, since it is OBVIOUSLY not Donovan, I would have to punch him if he ever called me sweetie. I mean is there even a point if I don't get some black mail out of it? Besides it also means that the wolf is a wolf and thus, for those too dense to figure it out, dangerous!

"Well, go on!" Lexi says, giving my shoulder a little push.

"Are you crazy?" I whisper back, "there's a WOLF in there!"

Lexi looks at me like I'm being ridiculous. Yeah, I'M ridiculous! "So?" she asks.

"So?! It's gonna eat me!" I say, she is obviously not seeming to GET the point of this!

"No it won't, your prince is going to come in and kill it!" Lexi says gleefully. I had never really gotten that bloodthirsty vibe from her before but now that I see it, it answers a LOT of questions.

I snort, because she still seems to believe that Donovan gives an ogre's foot what happens to me. No matter how many times I seem to tell everyone, they just don't believe me, DONOVAN IS NO PRINCE. And that goes doubly for you. Yeah, I can see you thinking all romantic thoughts about how he will do something terribly heroic, sweep me off my feet, shoot off some corny line, and I will fall madly in love with him.

HA!

Now get your mind out of that romantic sink hole you seem to enjoy so much and listen to what I am saying!

… I think Donovan has mind wiped you all.

Well, despite your persistence in believing that I am at all capable of falling for a troll, I can only hope that my inability to play the damsel in distress has beaten it's way into your sick, love deprived mind. (Shut up, my obsession with Anthony is completely healthy and I am NOT being hypocritical! Iggs…)

So instead of trusting my health and safety to an elf whom I strongly believe embodies all that is evil in this world, I start searching the kitchen for a means of protection.

"Sweetie, I'm right, here, I'm in the bed room! Where are you dear?" the oh so UN-grandmotherly voice calls again. I think it is getting frustrated.

I hurry up with the opening and closing of stubbornly empty drawers and cabinets, much to the confusion of Lexi as she insists that Donovan will show up and save me.

Nothing.

Nothing.

NOTHING!

I shut the final drawer with a growl, not a single knife in the place. I think this stupid curse is starting to figure me out… That can only bode poorly.

"Little Red Riding Hood!" The wolf calls, obviously annoyed by this point.

I make a final sweep of the room. Oh why did all the crocheted cats have to be soft and fluffy? Would it have killed the old lady to add some porcelain figurines to the collection?

My eyes fall on my last hope, a wooden broom stuck sadly in the corner. I pick it up, doubtfully. It has dust-bunnies and grime all stuck to the few pitiful bristles it is still managing to keep a hold of, but the handle is comfortingly thick and hard.

It will have to do.

With weapon in hand I edge up to the door and hesitantly turn the knob.

Well here goes nothing.

"Ahh, come here my child and give your granny a kiss, granny has missed you!" the voice whines as I enter the door. The shades are drawn and it takes my eyes a few moments to adjust. But as soon as I can see clearly, I REALLY wish I couldn't. The crazed wolf isn't even attempting to lay in the bed like a human might (not that that bit of the story ever really made sense, wolf skeletons just don't bend like THAT). However, it somehow managed to crawl into a set of maimed fluffy pink pajamas with more kittens on them. Obviously it ripped the pajamas trying to fit into them, and it only serves to make it look even more ridiculous.

"Well, come here!" the wolf repeats. Please, tell me who in the two worlds seriously FELL for this act and I will beat THEM with this broom instead! But seeing as I am in a more immediate threat of loosing body parts instead of my faith in humanity, I focus on the problem at hand.

"Yeah, right Grams," I say, wielding my ancient broom and hoping that I can do SOMETHING with it.

The wolf, still stubbornly ignoring that I am ignoring the story, says, "Why Little Red, how small your nose seems today," as if trying to hint that I should comment on her(?) nose.

"Oh come ON, dump the act," I groan, slumping my shoulders. But wait, I realize, this could work to my advantage! The longer I can keep the wolf pretending to be some sort of severely malformed grandmother, the less time I have to spend fighting.

"So grandma, how's granddad been?" I say, leaning on the broom.

"He died yesterday, I meant to tell you," the wolf snaps, "but he never did have large enough eyes, not like me!" Yeah… because that made sense. I decide the wolf is none too bright, but then again, a bright wolf would probably NOT be trying to pull this stunt right? Now I feel dumb for even feeling the need to point it out.

"Yeah, well my mom had been meaning to ask about that," I say, as if we were holding a conversation that made any sort of sense.

"So how about that weather?" I continue, "Hurtin' that old arthritis?"

The wolf makes this sound that clearly conveys the feeling, 'Screw this!'. He? She? It leaps up on the bed, night cap flying, "The better to eat you with!" it growls.

I instantly pull the broom back up into both hands, "Didn't think arthritis was useful for that," I say insolently.

Suddenly the wolf pounces at me and it is all I can do to get the broom swinging fast enough to push the flying wolf cannon ball away from a direct path towards my head. The wolf spins around and I take the stance which I am now so very grateful the teachers drilled into our minds, because I am pretty sure I am too scared to think very clearly at the moment. The wolf runs at me this time, and I roll away, catching the nightgown with the broom and if not at least unbalancing the wolf then ripping the night gown. I am feeling pretty good, right up to the point I continue rolling straight into the wall. The wolf is already swung around as I am still struggling to get up and it leaps right over to me. I manage to just get my poor broom up in time to stop the crazed wolf from biting my face off. So now I am on the ground with a wolf just above me, and a twig that is probably older than I am, being the only thing separating us.

Lucky me.

The wolf growls through the stick and it suddenly hits me that if I lay here any longer the wolf will in all likelihood overpower me. I pull my feet up quickly, drop my arm for a split second, push up with my legs and scoot out from under the now air borne wolf.

I am torn between whether that was a smart idea, because while I may be back up on my feet, the wolf seems even angrier than before.

"Why won't you be eaten!" the wolf growls frustratedly, before it jumps again at me. I guess the spoiled thing has never really had to fight for it's meal, well too bad, because if I go down, I go down kicking and screaming!

Or swinging my stick in this case.

Suddenly there is a crash and the closed curtains bulge. The wolf is distracted just long enough for me to give it a good whack over the head. Stupid wolf, hit first look later. I glance up for only a moment, just long enough to see Donovan struggling to get himself loose from the ugly pink curtains.

Talk about dramatic entrances.

And this is the fool you Iggs keep insisting I fall in love with?!

"You're a little LATE!" I yell at him, fending off another attack. I manage to swing the broom around and get another good bang on the head but at the cost of a bruise on my elbow from a poorly placed wall.

"Sorry!" he growls, "I only sprinted down a hill nearly taking my head off to get here!" he says, brandishing an axe which he is now using to hack at the offending drapes.

Finally! Some sharp metal!

Guess I forgot my own rule, hit first look later because I suddenly find myself with my head banged on the floor, my stick several yards away, and an angry wolf standing over me. Oh curse you distracting and attractive fiend!

I hope you realize I am referring to the axe?

Romantic sink hole! Get out of it!

Suddenly the wolf yelps and jumps away, just as the business end of an axe swings right where the wolf had just been.

"Would you watch where you swing that thing?!" I say, ignoring Donovan's hand up and jumping up off the floor, "Watch the wolf not me!" I chide.

"You're right, it is more attractive," Donovan shoots back, but turning to the wolf all the same. I growl and make a kicking motion at the back of his knees. If he wasn't holding the weapon!

Suddenly the world starts turning black. "What!" I start. I look down at myself searching for blood or broken bones (completely ignoring the probably clumsy fight between Donovan and the wolf with the intelligence levels of a spork). "Oh no, no, NO!" I growl, as the room quickly fades into complete darkness, why would it choose NOW to repeat! Not fair! I was fighting for several minutes in there! And it chooses to make me repeat when I am letting Donovan take over?!

COME ON!

**That chapter was like 6 pages long in word. I was up, writing late into the night, sore from so much volleyball, just so that you people could have a decent chapter (certainly not becuase I was having too much fun to stop...) now what do you say? **

**Anyway, the real twist comes next chapter and will not be explained for several more chapters HAHAHAHAHA! evil laugh**


	15. Try it Again

Try it Again

I scream as soon as I am able, which happens to be just as I am plopped back in the ugly pink kitchen. My scream breaks off in a probably un-attractive half gargle.

What?

I glance around. I was fully expecting to be back at the beginning. That's what Lexi keeps telling me, you mess up you start ALL over. I spin around looking for Lexi, but I need not look so hard as she is floating right next to me.

"What is going on!" I demand, "I thought I had to start all over if I screwed up!"

Lexi looks at me, confused. "But you haven't started over yet."

Yeah, RIGHT.

I glare at her, "You are not funny."

"Little Red? Is that you I hear in there?" the wolf calls.

What is going on!! My head hurts.

"Well?" Lexi says, "What are you waiting for? Go in?"

"Where were you last time, huh? How about you go in with me?" I demand, pointing at the wolf's room. I mean how hypocritical of her, she "trusts" Donovan enough to send me in to meet a hungry wolf but she gets to disappear?

Lexi says nothing just tilts her head at me as if I am spewing nonsense. Oh I get it… Something has obviously gone wrong and Lexi has amnesia.

Fun.

But for now I should focus on the large and dangerous, cross-dressing animal in the other room.

"Well, fine!" I say, and grab the broom out of the corner and march up to the bedroom door, seriously ready to take out some of this frustration. I storm into the door just as the wolf is trying to call me a second time.

"Dear, I- Oh, there you are sweetie," the wolf says with a toothy smile.

"What large teeth you have," I shoot off quickly.

"The better to eat you with!" The wolf says just as eagerly as I, leaping off the bed. Expecting this, I side step and give the wolf a good bang on the head.

I must tell you this is much easier the second time. The wolf swings around, but I am already ready for it. I side step again, and with a satisfying 'thunk' I get in another hit on the back. Well, this gets the wolf very angry, but it is more cautious now, "Why are you fighting back?!" the wolf growls in confusion.

"You already asked that," I say, slightly confused. Adele remembered when we had to repeat, why shouldn't the wolf? I mean just because Lexi-

I grit my teeth as I suddenly feel a shooting pain in my arm, stupid! Pay attention. I whip my stick around and hit the offending claw.

Now, I'm angry. I don't even break to let the wolf skid by this time. I hit again with the other side, and again, and swing it like a baseball bat. The wolf open's its mouth but I bang it shut and deliver a final rage filled swing, and it is outta there!

The wolf slumps on the floor, me breathing heavily over it.

And for those animal lovers out there, no I didn't kill it, so don't get all flustered. And don't give me any sort of crap about attacking poor defenseless animals who are more afraid of us than blah blah blah. How about you go get eaten by a wolf and then we will talk?

I want to shoot off some cool phrase at the unconscious wolf, 'Little Red Riding Hood THAT!' but I decide that would definitely be too cliched, and hard to do because it is so hard to come up with a good line that won't just leave you feeling stupid afterwards. So instead I just pat my trusty broom, open the curtains, and take a seat on the bed. I don't have to wait long before Donovan makes his (slightly more dramatic than last time) entrance.

I smile. But don't you go taking that the wrong way you lovesick harpies! It is just the GMA in me that seeks to improve that sort of thing. I took a whole unit on Dramatic Entrances I'll have you know.

"You're late, again," I inform him from the bed.

Donovan looks around. I am treasuring the confusion on his face as he glances from the wolf on the floor to me. But his confusion is gone much too soon for my liking and replaced by one of his cocky grins. "Not bad Dairson," he says, and then to my approval adds, "but I shouldn't really expect much else should I?" It is possibly the first not completely offensive thing I have ever heard him say, and I don't even expect he means it as a compliment, but my slightly violent side takes it as such.

"And what do you mean "again"?" he shoots back, as he walks over to poke the wolf with the butt of the axe, "YOU were the one late to try on the shoe."

I jerk up in the bed, "Oh not you too!" I growl, "This is some sort of cruel joke isn't it? But then I guess I shouldn't really expect much else from YOU, huh?" He looks up at me and pretends to be confused, he's very bad at acting, let me tell you. "When did you and Lexi find the time to organize it, huh? Though I guess it doesn't take that long, "Oh, we'll just restart Elle half way through the story and act like nothing happened, right? It'll drive her crazy!"," I glare daggers at the troll.

"Well, it doesn't look like you need my help on the crazy part," he says smiling that jerk smile and raising an eyebrow (Ohhh, just wait until I get a wand, my first matter of business will be to singe his eyebrows off!) "Now, can we just back up to before you started spouting nonsense?" he asks distractedly, "I think there must be something else we have to do since the fairy tale isn't finishing yet."

Stupid Donovan and his stupid logic.

"Have you seen Adele?" he asks, opening the door to the kitchen and peering around as if she is hiding somewhere, fool.

"No," I mutter, wishing I could come up with something more to say, a witty insult might be nice about now.

"Why should she be?" I call after him, following him to the kitchen, "she wasn't the wolf, and there are hardly any other villains in Little Red Riding Hood." I lean against the wall, completely confident like. Ha, I know something he doesn't!

He snorts.

WHAT! He has no right to snort at me! He is hardly an expert on how this ridiculous curse works so who is he to-

"I was talking to Adele," he says all snidely as he checks a closet. Jerk. "And she doesn't just play the villain, she plays the most unpleasant part in the story. Which could certainly be the Grandmother. And if you will at least pretend like you are the second best student in the class then you would remember that we have to find her to finish the story."

Oh I am fuming.

"Excuse me, THE best student in the class," I correct him. And if I just so happen to shout it, hopefully it will help it stick.

He simply shakes his head at me. I growl and stomp back into the bedroom. I am severely tempted to scream my frustration, but that would let Donovan know how bad he has managed to annoy me and I refuse to give him that satisfaction. Instead I begin kicking the bed, and promptly stub my toe.

I HATE HIM!!

As I am hopping around my gaze falls on the wolf and something clicks.

"Aw, damn!" I exclaim rather loudly.

Donovan is quick to pop back up beside me. "What's wrong Dairson?" he asks, "Did'ya stub your toe?" Oh I hate him sooo much.

"NO!" I say, subtly shifting my weight to my other foot. "It's just… What if the wolf ate her…" Where is Lexi when you need her?! This would be an ideal place for her to just tell me and- me what to do.

"They cut it up in the story-" Donovan says, though he doesn't move.

I pale, I would NOT be able to do it. And as sadistic as I'm sure Donovan is, I don't think he would be able to either. If nothing else I think he would be upset about killing a fellow demon.

"No- Maybe there's a basement or-" I start, when Donovan suddenly and quite rudely interrupts.

"Dairson, what happened to your arm!" he says suddenly grabbing my shoulder.

"What happened to your face?" I mutter, trying to pull my arm away.

"Quit it," he says with an annoyed tone, "Get serious for a moment, you're bleeding."

**So I am back from Volleyball camp part II and on to Shakespeare camp! So, time?... not so much. I still managed to get a freakish amount typed, though! Yeah, I know what you are thinking, 'That was a freakish amount?' BUT the truth is I wrote more than is here -Dodges bullets- **

**But COME ON, that is THE most PERFECT place to end it suspensefuly! I couldn't resist XP I don't normally manage really suspenseful (or at least I don't think so) so this is like... a treat for me! Even if it may kill you, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. MUAHAHAHAHAHA!  
**


	16. Stalking

Stalking

"Curses!" I growl and try to turn and see the shoulder that Donovan has apparently just noticed. "You JUST noticed?" I accuse.

"Your cape is only bright red and covering your shoulder," Donovan growls pushing aside my hood to look at my apparently bleeding shoulder. "Grimm, Dairson, are you telling me you didn't even notice? I mean I knew you were oblivious, but this is kind of hard to miss even for you, I mean your entire shoulder is-"

"It doesn't hurt and I had forgotten about it while fighting the wolf, but thank you so much for your vote of confidence," I growl, swinging around and pushing him away from my shoulder. I arrange the cape back over my apparently bleeding shoulder, and it twinges as if it now realizes that it is supposed to be painful but just doesn't care to put forth the effort. Well, that's one decent thing about this curse.

"You are kidding," Donovan says incredulously, "You don't even want it cleaned?!"

"As much as I know you would just love to suck my blood, no, I can't feel it at the moment and I would prefer to keep it that way," I snap, "Now can we please focus on getting out of this fairy tale? I'll bet you anything by the time we get to the next fairy tale it will be gone."

"I'll take that bet," he responds, and I stick my tongue out at him in response. "Mature," he rolls his eyes, and with one more glance at my shoulder (Grimm, would he just get over it?) he says, " Now, about this wolf…" He pokes it with his foot.

"Wait!" I order, before I can barf even thinking about what we MIGHT have to do. "LEXI!" I yell as loud as my lungs will allow. "LEXI GET YOUR TRAITOROUS BUTT DOWN HERE!"

"You don't need to shout quite so loud," Lexi says, suddenly at my shoulder. I barely suppress a squeak of surprise.

Donovan nods politely to the pixie, before I can begin demanding that she tell us what we are supposed to do, "We were hoping that you might be able to help us?" he says oh so gentlemanly. Oh sure, he can be even more polite to the LEXI than he can to me. It really just proves how much of a troll he REALLY is that he can be polite but chooses not to be.

I am a perfect little angel compared to him so shut it.

"She's in the closet right across from the bed! It's not that hard is it?" Lexi informs us as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. And I'm sure it would be, if this supposed closet really existed.

I exaggerate looking around, "Um Lexi, WHAT closet!"

Lexi spins around and mutters something I can't understand but I am reasonably sure it is not suitable for young pixie ears.

"Well, she's GOT to be here right?" I say, ready to continue looking if we at least don't have to cut open any wolves. He may have sliced up my arm, but there is no way he deserves that…

I turn back around and suddenly the closet door is there, as if now that we know about it, it can't hide any more. Bloody complicated stupid annoying curse!

I growl and march over to the door and wrench it open. My shoulder gives another weak little twinge, but I ignore it. And there sitting boredly in the corner is none other than Adele, dressed in a hideous pink bathrobe.

"Took you guys long enough," she says with a nod and a grin. She gets up, just as the world starts going black again.

This time as the black begins to turn into something from the real world I find that I have been dumped in the library. I am not as surprised when everything stops changing half way through, but I am surprised that Jaz is not there squealing and choking me. In fact, it seems that no one is on the same… level, I guess, as I. Just me and half a library.

What? Are you waiting for a sarcastic remark? Well why don't you hold your breath, I'm too tired to think.

I wander over to the desk where this entire mess had started, pretty much just waiting to head back to the next fairy tale.

Oh that's just mean.

On one hand I want to kick and scream and to be noticed by them, but on the other, it's sorta nice to just sit quietly and stare. I bet you can guess who is seated at the desk.

Yeah, you finally get to meet Anthony, seated just where I was… two fairy tales ago, and frowning at the very book that got me into this mess.

NOT FAIR!

I take a place at the table, just across from him and settle in for some longing staring.

I am not sad, you would do exactly the same if you could see him. He's so pretty.

Dirty blond hair that just brushes his ears, blue eyes of the oddest blue that you could just stare into forever, he has the nicest nose and a chin that a statue would envy. He has a stronger build than twice cursed Donovan's wiry sort of shape, which makes him look so powerful and warm and you just want to give him a big hug… I'll stop before I make a bigger fool of myself. But basically you get the idea that he IS prince charming! He was born to play a knight in shining armor, SO HOW DID THE CURSE CHOOSE THE WRONG GUY! It had it so easy! I mean, you have Adonis, or demon spawn!

I sigh loudly. Suddenly Anthony looks right at me, smiles widely and says "Oh good you're back!"

I could melt.

But of course melting might be more graceful than what actually happens. Instead I topple backwards in surprise. Oh no, oh no, I can't have made such a fool of myself. Though a small voice in the back of my mind says it's okay because now Anthony will rush over and help me up.

Why are these things always too good to be true?

My position on the ground suddenly allows me to notice that Jaz is actually walking up behind me carrying a stack of books. I scramble out of the way of her feet as I quietly bemoan my luck.

"Alright," I hear Jaz say distantly, "So I thought these might be the best books to look at for breaking a curse."

Anthony is smiling and beaming up at her and it almost breaks my heart. I tell you I have never ever been jealous of Jaz, despite that she is gorgeous and nice and never loses her temper, but… Oh this is just too much!

I am just pleading with the curse to take me back because I just- I can't watch this anymore. Not only because I am wishing he would smile like that at me, but because I feel so stupid for not having noticed before how good a pair they make… and I call myself a GMA.

I watch as the two talk and I gather that either Jaz enlisted Anthony's help or Donovan chatted with Anthony (though seeing as I have never seen Anthony sleeping in class, I am willing to bet on the first) and now they are trying to help.

Finally the curse takes pity on me and the world starts to fade.

I wonder if the curse's goal is to make me cry. Because I am dangerously close. I mean, forget true love, ever since I got stuck in this curse nothing good has happened, and now… what's even the point of trying to get out anymore.

**Alright, so a short little chapter for you all. Not terribly cheerful or exciting, but it had to happen sometime I guess. You guys are going to like the next fairy tale, promise. As Elle would put it, "Love sick harpies." **

**But I am willing to BET that you will never guess what the next fairy tale is (excluding the few friends I have already told). In fact I am so certain about it, that if anyone CAN guess what it is, I promise to post the longest chapter yet, otherwise it will be rather short. HA! Good luck! XP**


	17. A Horse and a Conversation

**Haha! Well, you all fail. And I must say I am rather disappointed, I still only got the minimum number of reviews before I will update (yes I am one of THOSE evil authors), even with the challenge and reward! And so, not only is it a short chapter but in order to make it a short chapter, I leave you at a cliff hanger. MAHAHAHAH! To those who did review, I thank you greatly and love you deeply.**

A Horse and a Conversation

As the next fairy tale begins to load, I find myself seated on an ass… a donkey igg! And here I was thinking we were making some progress.

Beside me, is Adele seated on a horse, and it's just chatting away. No seriously the horse is talking, complaining about how Adele should lose a few pounds to be specific.

"Shut up, horse, she's too skinny as it is," I shoot at it. Yeah not in the best mood at the moment. Besides, it's true, she is too thin, and it would be really sad if you haven't figured out how protective of my friends I am.

Adele giggles, the horse gapes, "But Princess, she has-" Grimm, what a talkative horse! And here I had just wanted to curl up quietly in a ball and die.

"Yeah, she's pretending to be me," I interrupt. I recognize the story, it being one of my favorites, I'm in Goose Girl. And if you Iggs don't recognize it then too bad! I am in no mood to cater to your laziness and summarize it for you. So either go educate yourself or live with it.

And ignoring the talking horse, this is actually looking like it will be a pretty bearable fairy tale, I mean, hopefully my contact with Donovan will be almost nil. That makes a very good fairy tale in my opinion. And the horse is easily dealt with, we speed up and it doesn't have the breath to speak.

Adele is looking at me rather concerned, "Are you alright?" she asks over the horse's indignant noises. (Another insight to the fairy tale, I had never expected a talking horse to be quite so annoying.)

I shrug, silently. I hadn't realized I looked so morose. "Nuthin'," I mutter.

Adele shakes her head, "I won't have that, now tell me what I missed."

I smile a little, I hadn't really expected how fast of friends we would become.

"Well?" she presses.

I break. I like being able to vent to someone.

"Well, it's just, I visited the real world and-" I stop as I notice her face has taken on a very confused look.

"You visited the real world?!" she asks incredulously.

"Kind of, more of like half of it… I can only talk to people who are asleep in it…" I trail off, "Is that bad?"

"No… No… just different," Adele says making a 'thinking' face. "Well, why don't you tell me why you are upset before we try and figure that out," she suggests.

The little pause had gotten me nervous and I am suddenly embarrassed, but with a little prodding I spill and tell Adele all about what Donovan said and how I hadn't wanted to believe him but then I saw Jaz and Anthony together…

When I finish I don't feel quite so bad. I mean it had just been a crush right? A rather sad one at that, I am probably better off not pining so sadly after him anyway, and as a Realizer, I am a bit of a matchmaker… alright, I am a very meddling matchmaker, but it's what I do best! So why is there that little voice in the back of my mind that is not at all convinced… it's better this way.

I store it in a little box in the back of my mind, you know, that little area where you hide all that painful emotional build up until that one day when it will probably become too much and you either snap and kill someone or it gives you a stroke! Yeah, that place.

I'll deal with it later. For now, Adele grills me on the more technical side these apparently strange visits, its easier than thinking about the emotional part of it. She asks me to describe what it's like, how much of the scenery I can make out, are there colors, blah blah blah. In truth I hadn't really considered a lot of these things and I end up having to think pretty hard about how much of it was what I really saw and how much of it was just what I would expect from a familiar surrounding.

She finally finishes her grilling and looks even more confused than before. "Has anything else strange happened?" she asks staring thoughtfully into the distance.

Yeah, because I totally know what passes for out of the ordinary in a place like this.

I raise an eyebrow pointedly. "Well, anything REALLY weird," she amends.

"Oh well there was this cross-dressing wolf," I say with only a tiny bit of sarcasm, "I mean THAT was pretty disconcerting."

She shakes her head and I get a little more serious. "WELL," I say, trying to figure out what she might really mean, "I guess it was pretty weird how your closet door kind of seemed to be hiding, and then when I was fighting the wolf and suddenly I skip back halfway through the story. Though I am pretty sure that was just Lexi trying to mess with me or something," I shrug.

Adele gives me this look that clearly says, "And you did not mention this right away BECAUSE… ?"

"Is that about what you meant by weird?" I half mutter, half grin.

"Yeah, that's about what I meant," she says rolling her eyes.

"I don't know enough about this curse, much less curses in general to really know-" I mutter.

Adele shakes her head, "A problem for another time," she says dismissively, though by the look on her face it doesn't really look like she means to cast is so quickly from her thoughts as she implies. "So how about I try and see if I can answer some of your questions?" she starts.

You have no idea how quickly that phrase improves my mood.

"Though I have to warn you, I dare not answer somethings-" she warns.

Oh great, had to go and just ruin that happy little high I had going there didn't she? It lasted for what, half a second? And then she pops it like a balloon. Though as I quickly figure out, what she does dare, encompasses a wide enough range of subjects.

"Who was that Chirstanne Lexi mentioned?" I ask quickly.

"She was another failed princess," Adele supplies, "She was before even me but she is too weak to do as much anymore. Rosaleen is even older, she was the stepmother-"

"Wait, so they are just wasting away in here? Is that why they look like that? The life it getting sucked out of them?!" I exclaim, what kind of screwed up curse is this?

"They do not age, so… yes, wasting away is what you might say time in the curse does to a human," Adele says slowly.

"And you too!" I say disbelevingly.

Adele only gives a weak smile.

I frown. "Haven't you tried to get out?" I demand.

"I have yet to stumble across a way out," she says carefully. I stare at her blankly, if it were me, I would be fighting the curse tooth and nail to get out, I mean, to just waste away in a lonely place like this…

"Do you talk to them?" I ask curiously.

"I used to talk to Christanne," Adele, shrugged, "but she is so far gone now, she doesn't even remember her real name. She just becomes what ever role is required of her. I talk to the Fairy Godmother a lot though," she says slightly more cheerfully.

"That crazy old bat? When?" I say, skillfully skimming around my biggest question of why she would even want to spend time with the loon.

"She's not bad," Adele says, "and I talk to her in the in between time, there's this… place, sort of like an employee lounge almost," she says struggling to describe it.

"Was she a failed princess too?" I shudder at the thought.

"No, from what I can tell, she has been captured since the curse's creation, all of the magical beings have," she shrugs.

I think my brain is starting to melt as I try to comprehend all of this information just being pelted at it at high speeds. And if I am feeling like this, I can only imagine the pain and confusion I am putting you iggs through.

Perhaps I should ask even more confusing questions to see of you explode.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. Besides, who would clean up your mess? I have had enough cleaning for one lifetime thank you.

Oh don't look at me like that. Here, I will appease you and indulge your sickly romantic side.

"So, uh…" I start, oh-so-smoothly, "who was your prince? How did you get uh… stuck here?"

**XP Na na nany boo boo. Alright done being evil. So Goose Girl is really one of my favorite fairy tales ever, and I really suggest that you read it or you are going to get very confused very quickly, just google it, and read. It is short honest and it will make the next few chapters that much more enjoyable. And you really will like them, I think. There is lots more Donovan and even... dare I tempt you? No, I will keep it my little secret, but it is very exciting.**


	18. Poems and Plans

**Aww, you all did such a wonderful job reviewing that I have written you an extra long chapter as a thanks and apology for getting annoyed! Though, it has come a little late since it took the extra time to write AND my computer time has been centered else where lately. Namely my lovely new tablet! But I am trying to pull myself away from my doodlies and continue updating, becuase I know how terribly important I am to you all. XP**

Poems and Plans

Adele grows very quiet. See what your sick need for romance does? Makes people awkward, that's what!

"It's not that interesting, I loved him but he was in love with someone else. It was one of the things that I loved about him that he was so loyal, and I couldn't bring myself to try and divert his attention, even if it meant this," she says slowly.

I nod, "Sorry," I mutter, "didn't mean to pry or anything."

"No, it's not that important any more," she shrugs, "I have come to terms with it, there are some people who just don't quite fit in the happily ever after norm, and I am one."

Oh great, AWKWARD! What are you supposed to say after something like that?

…Guys, guys are a good topic. Guy bashing to be exact.

I am quick to start up a conversation in which a certain elf is called many crude names. Adele half-heartedly defends him one moment, and then is cackling with me the next as I describe several of my favorite… stories about him. Even the horse seems to be enjoying himself a bit, I think he likes hearing about other people's pain and embarrassment.

"And so then, she slaps him AND steps on his foot with her high heels!" I declare as I describe one of Donovan's "breakups" I won't admit to having any part in it… to his face. Behind his back is a whole different matter, "And this other girl who I had told about him, now she's almost as violent as me," I crow proudly, "and she tackles him right into the lake!"

As much fun as I am having, I am also watching Adele carefully. I did tell you how meddlesome of a matchmaker I can be, and focusing on other people's relationships is… more comforting than focusing on my own, and since they are the only pair around and they both seem pretty interested… Don't look at me like that.

Besides, while I would never admit it out loud, a small part of me is convinced that if I can set these two up successfully then not only would it prove that (at least) the curse's version of true love is utter nonsense. The curse might also realize that it has screwed up, send Adele out of here with Donovan before she withers away, and send me… someone else. And these are not just idle fantasies, no, this is my new plan!

Read it and stand in awe of the brilliance that is my genius.

And so, laughing, talking, and secretly plotting, we arrive at our destination.

It is a large spread out castle, surrounded by several other buildings, which might be called a town if you cared to stretch it a little. But basically we ride through a meadow, a gate and a street or two before we hit a much larger gate and then it's into a very large, very imposing, stone reception room. It is so imposing in fact that it comes across as rather dark and gloomy. I can only suppose they are compensating for something. Suddenly a strangely familiar king comes in… he looks like he was made from the same mold as the Cinderella king, same old, round, smiling kingly sort.

"Hello, hello, welcome! Why, you my lovely young lady, must be the princess we have all been so eagerly awaiting!" Boring, boring, boring.

I listen only half interestedly as Adele and he discuss her new position as a queen and my new position as a goose girl. I think distantly that it will sure be odd trying to talk to a puppet. He is after all the one who 'tricks' me into spilling the dirt on the fake princess! If he's gonna be holding much of a conversation, he's gotta be some sort of important puppet! However, I don't care enough at the moment, instead I just accept the directions to go check in with the cook for my orders. I wave to Adele as I hurry off to find said kitchen.

What? I'm hardly going to put up much of a fight! I am hungry! And they had better have some decent food to eat! I have been living off of my own cooking, and baking that might as well have been mine it was so awful, for three days(probably amazing that I am still alive)! I can barely remember the last time I had a nice warm meal, and if they don't give me some, so help me I will pull a Hansel and Gretel on that Witch of a cook!

So, without argument, without direction, and without Lexi hovering at my shoulder trying to convince me it is important, I follow an order.

Hunger can drive people to do some crazy things.

I wander around different gloomy stone hallways, lit only by small little windows until I finally catch what I am looking for, a smell! Oh and what a wonderful smell it is. Oh meat, how I have missed you so!

I try to follow the frustratingly elusive smell, but it almost seems to be coming out of the walls at some points, and it takes a lot of will power for me not to just knock through them several times! That and a stubbed toe…

But finally I am rewarded, and as I finally stumble through a wooden door, the smell hits me head on and I become almost faint with hunger. I look up eagerly at the large busy kitchen, searching for the cook- and promptly scream bloody murder. The other puppets in the kitchen do not even start.

But… but… it's so WRONG!

For what should the cook be but big, green, and Lexi!

Let me tell you, pixies should NEVER be human sized… I think they have scales. Not to mention it really hits you how black and shiny their entire eye is! There is no pupil or iris or white, just shiny shiny blackness… Not to mention her hair looks rather like a giant spider sat on her head.

Lexi makes that face again, the one she makes before she pinches me, and throws her wooden spoon at me. I am caught by surprise (I mean, I was hardly expecting to have cooking utensils winged at me) as the wet spoon makes contact with my head and I think it actually knocks a little sense into me. I stop screaming, but cannot help but stare. I blink blankly at Lexi, she is the exact same proportions, if I was standing far enough away she would probably look exactly the same but… she is big… and… AND COOKING!

"You didn't tell me you could cook!" I accuse indignantly. How dare she leave me to starve! Probably laughing at each poor sad attempt to… what ever I was doing with that stove.

"What was I supposed to do?" Lexi shrugs. "You were the one who had to do it. Why should I have let you think that there was a way out of it?" she asks in that "chore" logic of hers. I hate the chore logic tone.

I refuse to dignify that with an answer and only glare.

Lexi points to a table and a bowl, "That's yours, you're supposed to eat it," She says, as if listing another chore. (I could probably say something terribly sarcastic here, but my sarcasm bone is located under my stomach and only active when well fed.) Oh sweet Grimm! I instantly forgive her as I approach the deliciously steaming concoction, and promptly inhale it.

I take the bowl over for seconds.

Lexi ignores me.

I wave the bowl a little, "Can I get some more?" I voice my request.

Lexi finally deigns to notice me. Oh well thank you soooo much.

"You should stop wasting time," she says, waving that spoon at me again. I flinch.

"I hardly think time is a concern in here," I shoot back, "now, me starving, that seems much more important."

Lexi frowns. "Apologize first," she demands. I frown back… for what? Lexi seems to get even more flustered by my obvious confusion.

"For being so unappreciative of me!" she squawks. No, now see, I fully appreciate her. I appreciate exactly how annoying, ditzy, and bossy she is and act accordingly. But I mean I hadn't figured Lexi for the sensitive type… or maybe it's just her being bossy again.

I almost don't apologize. I could just tell her if she wants to be appreciated maybe she could try sending a little sympathy my way (and some soup), but I don't. I am capable of empathy, thank you, much as you iggs like to think I'm not (though I would like to see you suffer all that cleaning and cooking and not hold a grudge).

That and the soup smells something wonderful.

"Alright Lexi," I sigh, not even rolling my eyes, in my experience people don't believe your apology when you roll your eyes. "I am sorry for not appreciating you properly," (I'll be sure to run and scream next time you give me directions) "You were very helpful when I needed you and you make wonderful soup, which I would really love to have some more of now."

You think I was too subtle?

I think Lexi rolls her eyes, though it is hard to tell when they are all black like that but I do get more soup. I resolve to be less sarcastic to Lexi… it might make things easier. Though I think I have already had the thought that flattering her would probably be in my best interests… to bad, I am a slow learner when it comes to things like, reigning in the sarcasm.

Two more bowls later, I am finally full and Lexi is trying to give me directions to the goose watching… place. I say 'trying' because she is awful at giving them. You try decoding what, "past the fountain with the fish, not the ones with the lilies, then down that street till you get to the blue house, and through the arch with the horse head, and you had better go through that one. Don't even try to convince me that is not an important point!" is supposed to mean!

I sigh and figure, if I get too lost the curse will just mess everything around so I am going where it wants. So I start out the back door and down the cute little cobbled street when Lexi rushes out after me and throws a worn blue cap at me, and starts babbling, trying to explain what I am supposed to do with it.

"Aww, don't tell me some snot nosed kid is really gonna be trying to pull my hair!" I interrupt her. Lexi looks at me confusedly for a moment, she seems to be continually forgetting that I already know how these fairytales go.

I roll my eyes, swing around, and wave the hat at her as I trot away, "Thanks for the hat," I call back, slapping it on my head, before I run off and hide behind a vine covered house.

I quickly come to the conclusion that I am none too eager to hurry off and watch a bunch of stinky birds. Imagine that! So I just start turning off in random directions looking at the flowery and bright colored yet disappointingly similar streets, which I might mention are all empty. Guess the curse was too lazy to- Nope there's some puppets. I notice several persons carrying baskets and going about on other various errands.

Wow, it's almost like it read my mind. Hmmm…

'I want ice cream,' I think looking around for an ice cream shop to suddenly appear.

A bell tolls some where in the city, and it sounds strangely like-

NO… NO… NO…

Hmm, I wonder if it is trying to tell me something? Of course, it WOULDN'T work for the things that really matter would it?

'Well then can I at least just get on with watching the stupid birds?' I pout at the curse. I turn deliberately at the very next corner and find myself at a dark mossy wall with arches every few feet. Well, this must be it, now just to look for that talkative horse.

It's pretty easy to find the proper gate, the morbidly hanging horse head is kind of hard to miss. As soon as I spot it, it's hard to decide whether I should shoot off some sort of Godfather line or start gagging.

I end up gagging.

Let me tell you, just like cutting open the wolf, it's kind of cool to read in a nice fairy tale, just a few words on a page, in fact, it's just mentioned like it's an every day occurrence.

Oh horse head on the wall? Let's poke it!

Roll the evil witch down a hill in a barrel full of nails? Only if I get to try next!

You are distant, you don't see the flies buzzing around, or smell the… or the open eyes… I have to run back a bunch of yards and try to keep the soup down. My eyes water just from the memory of the smell, oh I really hope it doesn't just sit there and rot for however long I am stuck in this curse… I have never had any desire to go into medicine, or be a vet or any other such silly thing that little kids think of, because things like these… not cool.

I finally manage to regain some composure, and much more cautiously this time, I approach the gate again, covering my mouth with my sleeve and staring resolutely at the opposite wall.

"You have a line you know," the disembodied (in more ways than one) voice says behind me. Oh that's so creepy. Now I'm imagining the dead horse head talking to me… I try REALLY hard to add a body to that awful image in my head, and am mostly successful… but the smell is starting to seep through my sleeve.

Oh but there's some sort of poem I am supposed to say that lets all of these stupid iggs know that I'm a princess or something. Oh Grimm, it starts with that stupid horse's name… _Alas poor_ something… Oh why had Mrs Tale been so insistent on not using proper names for the main targets and the other characters?

Blah blah blah, to make us value each individual's story my ass.

"Can I just go through, horse?" I manage out. So wrong, so wrong, so wrong.

"I have a name, it's Falada," That's the one! "As in the best horse of your father, the king, who is now dead." The horse just keeps blathering away, "Oh and just think of your poor mother alone in her castle."

"Close enough!" I spit out hurrying as quickly as I can out of that awful little stone corner and out into the meadow. As soon as I deem myself far enough away I gulp deep breaths of air as if I had been drowning before. I end up having to sit down and close my eyes to compose myself. If that had been a cow I think I would be vegetarian about now.

Finally I climb back shakily to my feet and without even thinking about glancing back I follow the sound of honking and goose like noises up a green flowery hill, HUGE change from the dead horse head.

Almost to the top of the hill a goose seems to pop out of the grass. Now you may be thinking, Oh how neat! I get to watch a bunch of pretty gooses, I however know that gooses are notoriously bad tempered and mean, and am NOT looking forward to this.

So while the goose eyes me warily, I do exactly the same. I don't move, just glare for a few minutes, finally I slowly start to make a wide circle around this goose, slowly, slowly-

Ogre crud!

Some second devious goose manages to sneak up behind me and viciously attacks my poor legs. I curse and try to bend around and hit the ridiculous creature.

Well that sets the first goose off, suddenly it comes flying and honking at me, and it is all I can do to avoid more bruises. I take off sprinting up the hill, some how collecting an even larger horde of geese trying to peck me into oblivion.

I hate these deranged curse animals! Better yet, lets just shorten that to I hate nature!

I stumble a little farther up the hill when suddenly I hear, "Martha! Bessie! Ernest! Cut it out!"

My savior!

Sure enough the deranged birds back off, leaving me breathing hard and glaring furiously at the birds. I spin around to get a proper look at my rescuer.

And there standing before me is some brown haired kid, with a none too bright look on his face. I smile at my new puppet boy.

"Thanks-"

"Conrade," he fills in. "But most jus' call me Goose Boy see'n cuz I know so much 'bout my geese!"

I nod, trying to keep my smile, I can tell right now I am so going to enjoy his conversation… not.

And sure enough, in the next half hour seated on a hill, watching geese honk angrily at each other, I learn more about the eating habits of geese than I ever wanted to know, more than should be known. Let me put it this way, I think I have discovered a new and super effective form of torture.

"O- course, these geese are Greater Snow geese like I said, not Kelp Geese, which even though they're called Kelp Geese-" I am just starting to wonder when I will feel my brain leaking out of my ears when I have a thought.

I know, it sounds impossible that I can still manage brain functions while listening to this, but I manage it some how. My thought is that the way I get Conrade to leave is by getting his hat blown off. Well, I might as well try and do this by the book or in this case fairy tale, so I take off my hat.

Instantly Conrade stops talking and just stares at my head, it's pretty creepy. I mean, my hair isn't bad, dark red, stick straight and what not but… yeah, he's staring like it's a water in a desert.

"I want to pull it," he says stupidly, to who, I don't know.

Scary.

Wind? Oh wind where are you, you're supposed to distract Conrade… Oh crap, there's another poem. I HATE poems, soooo much. I struggle to remember, but let me tell you it is very distracting having Creepy Conrade slowly approach you while you are trying to remember some poem that barely even rhymes.

He is way too close for comfort now. Suddenly I just get fed up, grab his hat and before he can even register the theft, I toss it to the geese. They honk madly as the sad little cap is thrown between them and promptly begin honking and fighting over who gets to try and eat it.

"Hey!" Conrade shouts, at me and then again at the geese. He chases after them and they quickly flutter away, while a few more hit him with their wings.

Much more effective.

I tuck all my hair back up in the hat, extra careful to cover it all up… just in case, and sit back and enjoy the show.

After a little while, Conrade is still chasing his hat, much farther away now (I knew my way was more effective). I spot Adele making her way up the hill.

I smile as she makes her way over to me. "Hello, wonderful day isn't it?" I ask, squinting up at her from my relaxed position on the grass.

She says nothing for a moment, just peers at me then at Conrade off in the distance then back at me. She shakes her head as she sits down next to me. "You gave his hat to the geese?"

"Oh don't shake your head at me!" I grin back, "I can see you smiling!" She smiles wider.

"I just came down to check on you. Are you doing alright?"

"Sure, sure, great," I wave my hand dismissively, "Just ready to strangle whoever thought all these poems were a GOOD idea."

She chuckles, "Falada did make a comment to the effect of complaining about you not using proper edict."

"Who names a horse Falada!" I complain, falling back to rest my head on my hands, "It's ridiculous!"

"Oh and Donovan wanted me to ask about your shoulder," she adds suddenly.

I roll my eyes and groan, "Oh he just wants to be right," I comment, "You can tell him I'm fine it's fine and I win the bet." I say with a nod. Silence follows.

I am staring up at the sky when suddenly, a thought strikes, a devious thought indeed. I am suddenly glad that I am in this particular fairy tale, as it is most useful for to carry out my plot.

"You know," I say slowly, "I was just thinking. It might actually be a good idea for you to spend more time with Donovan," I propose, gaining speed. "I mean, I would suppose that the false princess in the story would be spending all sorts of time with him, and I'm not sure if you can help me gain plot points or what, but I mean it's worth a try, right? I mean, just in case something happens or the curse starts getting picky, not to mention, you can both… talk strategy or something." I'm wondering if I might have just pushed a little hard for that.

Adele has that thoughtful look again, "I don't know for sure, but why not try it?" she says with a nod.

I KNEW it! She likes him.

Other wise she would have definitely put up more of a fight! Right? Oh why am I asking you iggs, I'm the GMA here, I would know better than any of you!

"Alright then," Adele says getting up, "Is there anything you need?" she asks. I shake my head and with a smile and a nod she headed back off the hill.

I spend the rest of the day laying back and working on my tan. Not that I anything other than my arms are tanning, stupid conservative dress, and I'm not even sure if I can tan in this fake curse sun… Eh, don't care. I'm warm at least.

Conrade comes back at one point, but now he is wary of me, I need only threaten to throw HIM at the geese and he shuts up nice and quick.

**Aww, lets all take a moment to pity the poor abused Conrade.**

**So there, truth be told I hadn't actually planned on revealing Adele's story quite this early but you all seemed so eager I had to tell you something! Depending on how long the next chapter is there may be some... how to put this? Flaming fluff? As in sarcastic angry, Elle style fluff. Yeah, that sort of fluff!**


	19. Plans Gone Wrong

Plots Gone Wrong

I am walking upstairs from the kitchen, oh so content with some nice potato something in my stomach. After all, I need to keep up my strength after a hard day of 'goose watching'. I am wandering the hallways, randomly opening doors and looking for a place to sleep for the night, so far nothing, which is weird, I mean, how many rooms can you get creative with in a CASTLE before you just start making guest rooms?

Suddenly I hear laughter. At first I am caught off guard, I mean, I don't think the puppets are capable of laughing, and I am beginning to suspect the same of Lexi, I don't think she can do beyond an evil giggle. But as it repeats I identify it as Adele's laugh. I quickly decide to play spy and hide in the shadows, of which there are many to pick from. I do not have to wait long before I spot Adele and Donovan side by side whispering conspiratorially. They are gone in a few seconds, and I am doing a little victory dance in my shadow. I knew it, I knew it!

I am feeling giddy all while I find a room and finally snuggle into the nice big bed the curse has at last decided to provide me with. I stare up at the canopy imagining all sorts of new plans to get the two to fall in love (Can I help it? This really IS what I fall asleep thinking about at night). But as I start drifting off to sleep, I start thinking about Anthony, and I start feeling jealous. I'm not jealous of Jaz, and before you harpies think it I am not jealous of Adele either, Grimm no.

No, what I am jealous of is the two pairs in general. I mean they both get to be all… cute or have me arranging it, it's so easy, so perfect… I just guess I wish I had that.

Shut up, I am not love sick, or in love with love or what ever you care to call it. But I am a realizer, watching others fall in love is part of what I do, but I am allowed to be a little jealous!

I sigh as I try to snuggle deeper into the pillows. Screw these thoughts, I just want to sleep. Unfortunately, it is way too long before I actually do.

The next morning finds me pacing outside of the horse head gate, with no new orders from Lexi, trying to find the will power to force myself back through that way, and really hating how repetitive fairy tales can be. I had avoided the gate on the way back, but there really was no way around it this morning without directly disobeying the curse. And I REALLY, REALLY just want to finish one fairy tale ONCE without having to repeat it. And it would be really nice if the one I don't repeat was the fairy tale that already repeated itself without me doing anything wrong, I mean that would SUCK to repeat! Did I mention that I hate repetitive fairy tales?

So finally, I reason that I am just making it worse by not confronting the scary disembodied horse head and that I should just get it over with, and what better way to do that than by adding some humor?

So I close my eyes, take a deep breath and walk at the gate. The horse 'ahem's when I stop what I guess to be in front of it.

I bet you are wondering now just how I am going to make this funny. How I can possibly make something so morbid laughable without quoting something from the Godfather, which I wouldn't do, after all I never reuse a joke. Well, I will tell you what, I am terribly talented.

(Even now you are sitting on the edge of your seat, trying to figure out what I am thinking, trying to telekinetically kick me in the head and make me stop all this rambling build up and just say it already instead of being the annoying realizer that I am and creating so much suspense for a joke that really doesn't deserve it. So when you finally hear it you will groan and slap your head and mumble how it so wasn't worth it but I will be rolling on the floor I am laughing so hard because you totally fell for it. Alright I'll tell you.)

When I remembered the horse's name I also remembered the poem that I was supposed to say. What the ridiculous horse was expecting was, "Alas Falada hanging there." What I say is-

"Falada you have no derriere." (Told you it wasn't worth it)

The horse glares at me, I can feel it boring into the back of my skull, but having said my part I just start walking away and silly Falada (I still think it's a stupid name for a horse) has to rush through his part- "Alas, young Queen how ill you fare, If this your tendermotherknewherheart-" but I don't stick around long enough to hear the whole spiel. I just rush off to the fresh air where I take some deep cleansing breaths. That is probably the second worst thing I have had to do in here. Cooking is the first… OBVIOUSLY.

So I head back up the hill for another enjoyable afternoon of tossing Conrade's hat to the demon geese. Don't get me wrong, I do try the stupid little poem, like I said, I would HATE having to repeat this fairy tale. But when the wind hits up it's more like a sad little flop and the hat tumbles off his head and falls a few yards away.

Well, screw that.

I run after the hat before Conrade gets it and helpfully toss it into the herd of devil birds. My way is much more effective… and entertaining.

I am enjoying watching him trying to get it back from a particularly irritable goose who has taken to pecking Conrade's toes in order to keep him from the hat, when who should I see mounting the hill but Adele and the source of all evil. My good mood quickly dissipates, and as soon as they are within hearing distance I shout, "What's that thing doing here? I'm not supposed to have to deal with him till the end of this stupid fairy tale."

"Well, two reasons," Adele says, breathing heavy as she climbs the final bit of hill to get to me, "first, the king went missing, yesterday."

"The puppet king?" I ask, not really sure if this is a good or bad thing.

"No, the king of the mole people, Dairson" Donovan says sarcastically, "Yes of course the puppet!" He's not breathing as hard as Adele, but he's huffing and puffing all the same, and it warms my heart.

"Well, it's a bit of a problem," Adele says shooting a look at Donovan, "Since it's a bit premature for him to be observing you."

"You mean stalking," I grin back at her, "And I don't know, I think I might have gotten Conrade annoyed enough that he might visit the king a little early." I motion with my head over to where he is so gracefully being trampled by angry geese, "Don't know why he doesn't just get a new hat, the geese seem pretty attached to that one," I can't help but laugh.

"Well, regardless," Adele interrupts my giggling fit, "the main reason we came up here was that we might as well use this time to see if you can-"

"She means force you to," Donovan interrupts rudely, but she continues as if she never heard him.

"Just get out of the curse now."

It takes me a few minutes to realize what she is saying…

**So no where near as long as I had planned but you were all just being such amazing reviewers I had to give you all SOMETHING! So here is a short little sneak peek into a hopefully much longer next chapter, and- oh my, can it be? Is that actually some of the plot managing to poke it's head through that mess of sarcasm and love circles? Oh my this is exciting indeed, actual difficulties in the plot has not been sighted for chapters!**

**Oh and as for Adele's potential death at the end, I didn't realize you had all become so attached to Adele that you were worried! Though I suppose it is rather exciting and suspenseful, as you never really know just how homicidal and blood thirsty an author can be until some character gets knocked off. And between you and me, all these original Grimm Fairy tales only seem to bode poorly for this particular author, they are rather violent after all aren't they just? And her mental health is already just so unstable. XP**


	20. Just a Kiss

**Well, if you hadn't already guessed it I bet you'll be very interested in this chapter as soon as you see the chapter title- Done looking? Yes, there is a kiss in this chapter... but I warn you, it's not your typical "powerful fairy tale kiss", but then again, what kind of story would this be if I was TYPICAL?**

Just a Kiss

"NO!" I shout, scrambling back as it hits me what they intend.

"Elle, you said that you would," Adele says, in what might have been a kind voice but to me it just sounds threatening.

"I didn't mean it!" I protest, trying to get to my feet so that I can better run away, "Kissing him would be like… like…"

"Like kissing a guy!" Donovan says all dramatically.

"Yeah, mock all you want troll brain, but I have my own plan!" I shoot back.

"Oh well then by all means lets hear it," Donovan says spreading his arms and looking attentively at me.

I stall.

Well, what am I supposed to say? That I am trying to match them up? Somehow, I don't think that they would respond well to that.

Oh this is all wrong! I tried to get them to spend time with each other so that they would fall in love! Not think of new ways to make my life miserable! Besides, me… kissing him… that does NOTHING for my plan! It pushes me backwards!

Donovan advances towards me and I tumble back like in a bad dream, where you are trying desperately to run away, but you just can't get your legs to support your weight.

"Just hold on a second!" I hold up my hands and close my eyes as if shielding my self from a blow. I peek up to see Donovan is looking down at me expectantly.

"Well?"

"Well…" I say, trying to keep talking while my brain scrambles for a way out of this. I turn to Adele, "Aren't you worried he might poison me or something?" I say trying to make up a nice long list of reasons why NOT to kiss Donovan.

Adele just stares silently at me as well.

I scrunch up my eyes when it suddenly occurs to me that this might not be SO awful. I mean, there is no way in the two worlds that something like this could ever be considered enjoyable, it's about on the level of cutting off your fingers. But I mean I don't have to worry about Donovan really being my true love, OBVIOUSLY, so we can't really have true love's kiss and if Adele sees that, then she will see that Donovan is free! Then my plan will be set in motion anew! Maybe if I'm lucky the curse will even notice and just fess up that it was wrong right away. HA!

And all I've gotta do is… kiss… the most awful being in the two worlds… Donovan. I SO wish there was a better way. Eating rocks? Shoveling troll poop? Maybe wasting away in this curse is not too bad a punishment, I mean, it's only an eternity!

But Donovan doesn't give me much more of a choice in the matter. He grabs my arm and hauls me up.

"Let go of me!" I wrench my arm away again and try to kick his leg. I may have mentally agreed to this but I will NOT be man handled.

"Sorry," Donovan rolls his eyes and hold up his hands.

I blow out angrily through my lips and glare daggers at him.

"Alright, alright, break it up," Adele says stepping between us before this escalates, "You guys are supposed to be sharing true love's kiss, could you at least try and pretend like you can stand being within ten feet of each other."

Ten yards would be easier.

"Easy for you to say!" I shoot back, "you're not the one whose lips are probably going to burn off."

"I can't believe that you are still treating this like a game, Dairson," Donovan says, suddenly getting all serious, "You do realize that you could be trapped in here forever? Just because you don't want to grow up a little?"

Well that gets me angry.

"Oh? And who gave you any right to decide what I do with MY eternity, huh?" I shoot back. "I fail and you still get out of this, so why should you even care?"

"Guys!" Adele tries to step in, but I am on a roll.

"Why don't you get off your high horse and stop acting like you know exactly what is best for everyone and trying to dictate how I should be behaving!"

"This is what I am talking about!" he says, throwing his hands in the air, "you are blowing this completely out of proportion! It's just a kiss and you are acting like it is the worst thing that could possibly happen to you, just because it's ME you'd have to kiss!"

"I would expect something like that from you!" I rage back, "You who has kissed oh so many girls and is OH so experienced in the world of romance! Me though, I actually believe what they are trying to teach us," I say, lowering my voice and stepping closer to point accusations at him, "Kisses and love are special and shouldn't just be distributed left and right!"

"What, jealous?" he says softly.

"Yeah, THAT's the reason I keep insisting that I hate you, I'm jealous," I say sarcastically, throwing up my hands in annoyance.

"It would fit your juvenile attitude towards such things."

I growl loudly and turn my back quickly on him, crossing my arms and firmly shutting my mouth. If I he says another word I am going to punch him, please, please let him for once just end a conversation.

I hear him make a sound, but whether it is a sigh or a breath to resume talking I don't know because Adele steps in again, "Alright, have we got that out of our systems?"

I take a deep breath, the plan, the plan, think of the plan.

"Yeah," I mumble, "Just give me a few seconds." I refuse to make eye contact with HIM, even though I can feel his gaze focusing unceasingly on my down-turned head.

Stupid Donovan with his stupid glares and his stupid insults.

I have to take another deep breath.

"Alright," I say finally, licking my suddenly dry lips, "It's just a stupid meaningless kiss anyway, lets just get it over with."

Donovan looks at me with that impenetrable gaze and I meet him right back in the eye. "Fine," he consents.

"Alright Elle," Adele says, talking a little slower than normal, I can only suppose it is in an attempt to keep the unstable truce, "Now, it's got to be you that kisses him."

I groan inwardly, this is going to be twice as hard for me than it would be for Donovan the flirt.

"Alright then," I say, trying to make my voice sound anything but nervous. It's just a stupid little kiss, never mind that it's like my first since I was like twelve. Way to go and ruin my first kiss to a real guy, not just some playground little boy… Though you know, Donovan would be classified as more of a demon than an "actual guy" so… Yes, I realize that I am stalling, and that it is in fact a very sad attempt.

"Well, bend down some then," I manage impatient this time. Donovan grins once again, he likes lording it over me that he is several inches taller, stupid tall elves… but he bends down all the same.

I look at his eyes, then at his lips and make a face, they are curled in some terrible little smile and oh how I would rather strangle him than ever touch that smile…

"Well? Done admiring yet?" he says, that cocky tone is back.

"Hardly!" I snort, then quickly add when I realize that can be taken wrong "I am simply composing myself to face this certain suicide."

He simply raises an eyebrow.

I try to pretend that I am Jaz, and try to think why there might be any reason to EVER want to kiss him. He's… handsome, in a dark sort of way that really isn't my type… no, I am trying to get myself to… oh screw it. I just have to move my face forward. How is this so hard?

I look at Adele, then at the grass, at the city, back at Adele and finally grimace at Donovan who is rolling his eyes. "It's really not that big a deal!" he growls.

"Shut up!" I order, "I can't have you talking when I am trying to imagine you are Anthony!" Donovan frowns. I don't think he likes people pretending he is someone else when they kiss him, go figure. Oh but it's just some meaningless kiss, what should he freaking care?

"I can't believe that you are still obsessed with him even after-"

I suddenly choose that moment to lean forward and barely even touch his lips. I pull back quickly like I have been scalded. I am sure I am going to die of, like, Donovan cooties now.

"Now was that so hard?" Donovan says as if it had been easy. Well it had not!

"Well, that's done," I say between trying to rub my lips off on my sleeve, "and now that I have proven to the both of you that there is no way that Donovan could possibly be my-"

Adele makes an angry sort of sound, "You barely even touched him! I don't think a blind man would've thought that was True Love much less the curse!"

"So we are trying to _trick_ the curse now are we?" I roll my eyes.

"YES!" Adele groans as if it had been obvious. I think MY tricking the curse is a much better way to go about it, as mine does not involve me KISSING the bane of my existence. I am surprised I have not withered up yet and died. "Actually kiss!" she orders. It sounds more like a death sentence to me. I give Donovan a look that conveys exactly how I feel about that order. And he's just standing there looking like it's nothing.

Well… Oh the things I do for other people's love. When Adele finally gets together with Donovan, I really hope she realizes exactly what I did for her!

"Fine," I growl and stomp back over to Donovan. Again he bends down and again I struggle for the will power. Though it is a little easier this time. After several seconds of trying to convince myself that I am kissing ANYONE other than Donovan Erebus I lean forward again. I press my lips against his just long enough to feel that he is not a cold blooded demon, as I had suspected of him, since he does seem to be pumping warm blood to his lips at least. I go to pull away again, but this time his lips follow me, keeping contact for one more awful second.

As you would probably guess I respond by pulling away even quicker and twisting my head away. "What was that!" I sputter, trying to get that warm feeling he left on my mouth off by rubbing furiously with my sleeve again. I glare daggers at him, anymore funny business and I swear I'll start shooting real daggers at him!

"If I just left it to you the curse would never believe it!" he shoots back, "And while I know you just love having me all to yourself, I actually would like to get back some time this century!" I gape indignantly at him, though I can't actually dispute it… I never was the best actor.

Adele shakes her head, "He's right you know, why don't you try one last time and let Donovan lead." I stare open mouthed at the two sadists. They are talking about it like, 'oh just let him lead the dance or the conversation', and I didn't like it when he did those either! So I say just that.

"You are over reacting again, you forget that I am probably enjoying this about as much as you are," Donovan says all 'reasonably'.

"Yeah, right because I will totally believe that after that last kiss!" I growl.

"You are mistaking a stronger will power for a romantic interest."

I snort, "I hardly believe that you are capable of 'romantic' interest, more personal interests."

"Come on!"

"Get some empathy!" I shoot, and swing around to start stomping up the hill.

Adele makes that strange noise again and I catch her saying, "Do something!" before the distant sound of honking geese again plugs my ears.

Suddenly I am being swung around to fall struggling into Donovan's chest with his arms trapping me and pulling me tight enough that I can't even move my arms to beat him away. I should have been able to take him down, but I had NOT been expecting this! He caught me by surprise and got me in a position where his brute strength just overpowers mine.

Cheater.

In the next moment his face is millimeters from mine and all fight is shocked out of me as I stare blankly at his half-lidded eyes. I can feel my heart beating erratically in my face and suddenly I am way too warm.

"YOU have to kiss ME," he reminds me in a low whisper, I can feel the breath from his words he is so freaking close.

I will maintain until my dying day that it was the shock and that I really did want to get out of this ridiculous fairy tale curse that made me hesitate only a second before I finished the tiny distance between us and he really kissed me. I want to tell you that it was uncomfortable how close our faces were… so I will. It was awkward and uncomfortable and warm, too warm and... shut up I am not lying and I refuse to take this from you! So instead of describing all those things that you love sick iggs probably want to hear like how terribly strong he felt or how tender the kiss was (who in their right mind would even want to describe a kiss as tender anyway) I will not tell you any of those things. No, I will just cut to the part where I recall exactly WHO I am kissing and try to pull away from him, and again the fickle refuses to just break the kiss and keeps holding me tightly, locking his arms together until I work a hand free and manage to slap him hard.

He lets me go and I instantly stumble backwards into the ground I am trying so hard to get away. "Well!?" I demand angrily, breathing hard, "Are you SATISFIED? If that sure didn't work then I don't know what you guys think will!" I turn a furious glare to Adele and Donovan. "I keep trying to tell you there is NO WAY Donovan is my true love and maybe you can freaking believe me now?!" I push myself up off the ground and storm back off towards the geese who have managed by this point to wander off a ways. At least Donovan seems to realize this is NOT the time to tease to me as he does not say a word as I rage off to resume watching my entertainment, which was so rudely interrupted.

That night I am sure to take a scalding hot bath and then suck on an ice cube (which I manage to plead out of Lexi), but even as I go to sleep that night in a different, less fluffy bed, I can't seem to get to feel of that stupid elf off of my lips!

Oh does Adele owe me!


	21. Bad Mood

**Wow! Hard to believe that I'm really on chapter 21! This is perhaps the farthest (plot wise) that I have ever made it in a story! And I would really love to finish it, though it might be tough, between school starting and the fact that I am not even NEAR half way done yet! But that's cool, right? You get to read more! You may also be pleased to know that I had an intense brainstorming session recently and the plot has gotten, if you can believe it about 36.5 more intense! I finally decided on this one fairy tale that was at first just going to act as a filler but none of the ones I choose quite fit, I added a character, yeah, it's a mess, but it's a wonderfully exciting chaotic mess! And there is a bit more cloture. But I'll just stop now before I confuse you even worse. Any way,nice long chapter for you, Enjoy!**

Bad Mood

My bad mood is still persisting as I sit and pout the next day in the goose field. It is not improved when I spot Adele and Donovan stopping by for another "visit".

I refuse to move, barely even blink, as Adele mounts the hill. Donovan keeps his distance and takes a seat at the bottom of the incline. At least that's something.

I don't make eye contact when Adele stops in front of me, and just keep staring at the geese. Conrade is avoiding me and is stationed on the other side of the gaggle, so I am denied even my daily entertainment. With a sigh Adele takes a seat beside me.

"Donovan thought it might be best for him to start at the bottom of the hill," she starts slowly. I think my dissatisfaction vibes are making their way through to her.

"I knew I could beat some sense into him, it was only a matter of time," I respond, still watching the geese, however uninteresting they may be.

"Look, would you mind losing the mood?" Adele says, I can tell she is getting rather fed up with me. WELL…. Too bad.

I frown, finally making eye contact, "Why? If it's making Donovan keep his distance I say it is a terribly useful thing to have."

"Elle, we have important things to discuss," she says, taking a no-nonsense 'tone'.

I blow out through my lips. I don't want to!

"If by we you mean, you and I, then that's fine. There's really no need for Donovan to come up here," I say just as 'carefully' as she.

"Elle," she warns. Goodness, she can be such an ADULT some times, it really is rather annoying.

"Oh come on! I think is would be BLATANTLY obvious by this point that he is NOT my True Love," I groan, flopping back on the grass.

"I realize that," Adele says. I jolt up and look her right in the eye. She appears to be earnest…

"Alright then," I nod slowly, "As long as you two realize that and we can 'work together' to find another way out."

Adele rolls her eyes and motions Donovan up the hill. He comes, albeit slowly. I sigh and tap my fingers, he couldn't speed it up a little? Though once he is here I am wishing he had gone even slower. He sits down beside Adele and I, and instantly my face starts to heat up. Yeah, well, you get a kiss like that and see how unaffected you can be!

YES I was "affected" and I feel no need to lie about it to the likes of you. But don't you go misinterpreting that, as I know you are wont to do. If that had been someone I liked, or remotely cared about, that would have been… quite a kiss. But seeing as it was Donovan, it does not change my opinion of his personality, and I do not have any sort of emotions for him beyond intense dislike. I am not so shallow that I will confuse emotions for physical reaction, and I will thank you not to even imply such a thing. Which is why I get quite annoyed when I feel my stomach start to flutter, and I take out my annoyance by glaring at Donovan. He of course only raises and eyebrow and gives me one of "those" most irksome smiles before turning back to Adele.

"So Donovan and I have been talking." I cringe, isn't that how this whole mess started? "And we think we might have an idea what is going on."

"You mean beyond that the curse screwed up," I supply helpfully.

"It's not just that the kiss didn't work," Adele presses, looking a little worried, "We still can't find the king and he should have approached you by now."

"And there was the thing with Adele's closet being hidden," Donovan adds.

"And your strange repeat and visits to the real world," Adele continues, "It's not normal and we believe that there are glitches in the curse."

I grin, not really sure whether to take this seriously or not, "Glitches? Like in a computer?"

"Yeah, glitches, as in you screwed up casting the curse," Donovan accuses. Jerk. "You really should have taken Advanced Spell Theory with me," he shakes his head. Oh because that makes him so much better than me?

"You know that class would have been useless for me," I shoot back, " as a GMA I'M not exactly casting that many spells."

"Yes, but if you had, you would have learned the danger of casting these sorts of complex control curses without the proper precautions and materials!" Donovan reasons.

"Well, would you kindly explain instead of being such a troll about it?"

"You know some day you are going to say that and really piss off a troll," Donovan grins.

"Being compared to you? Yeah, I'd get insulted too," I shoot back, "Now would you stop holding this over my head and acting like it makes you so much better than me!" I growl.

The cocky grin drops off his face and I am pleased to say he gets a little more serious at least. "Complex spells can be quite dangerous because they have to be followed to the letter," he explains, "Even something like a misplaced candle can have consequences as it allows glitches to sneak into your spell and sabotage it." Damn, well if it's all the way down to a misplaced candle then I must be in some serious orge crap.

"You make them sound alive," I say, trying desperately to think of what the book had said and what I might have missed.

"Well, the teachers got a little vague around that part, but, they kind of are, think poltergeists, just in a curse," Donovan supplies.

I sigh heavily and run my hands through my hair, this is just getting better and better. "So the glitches are responsible for all the weird stuff that is happening," I repeat, not as a question, just to really recognize it.

"Exactly how much do you think you screwed up, Dairson?" Donovan suddenly asks the dreaded question.

"I was an accident that I even cast the spell in the first place," I mutter quietly, by this point trying to hide my head between my knees.

"Great," I hear Donovan groan, "Just perfect, do you even appreciate how difficult this is going to make an already difficult situation? The glitches are going to get worse as the fairy tales continue! And we are going to have to figure a way out of here that isn't even the normal way!"

I peer up through my hair first at Donovan, then at Adele.

"I'll break it," I mutter.

"What was that?" Donovan turns to me.

"Even if the normal way out of this curse was an option, I don't want to," I say louder, Donovan rolls his eyes and goes as if to interrupt but I continue quickly. "I am going to find a way out of this curse for all three of us," I say looking pointedly at Adele.

"Elle-" she starts. I would have failed all my IGA teachers if I had missed the look of practiced denial of hope on her face.

"No," I interrupt, "I might as well anyway, you know, if I am breaking the curse or whatever I am doing." Donovan's face is impassive, but I choose to believe it is because he is secretly happy he will be able to see Adele after this. Call it the romantic in me, whatever small wisp of a romantic is able to survive amongst all the cynicism and sarcasm.

"Thank you," she says quietly, though she still doesn't seem to believe me completely. Probably thinks that I am trying to use her as an excuse to avoid kissing Donovan. Oh how ironic. But really, she is my friend, or at least I consider her such, and I am VERY loyal to my friends.

"Alright but how are we to get out of this glitch first Dairson, hmm?" Donovan just has to insert.

"Easy, you just take over whatever the king was supposed to do," I reply quickly, "Can we try to focus on the larger picture here?"

"Of course we would all love to hear your plan-" he looks expectantly at me.

I bite my lip and turn to Adele. She rolls her eyes but smiles all the same.

"I wouldn't be able to tell you, but Falada down there would probably know someone who can help if not know how himself," she waves towards the gate.

"Of course the rotting horse head wold know wouldn't he?" I groan, but leap up all the same. They are going along with my plan! This is something to be celebrating!

Well, I half run, half slide down the hill, being wary, as I have learned by this point, of geese poo. I wait several yards from the arch for Adele and Donovan to catch up, they are really quite slow… and I am not particularly eager to talk to Falada head again. "After you," I wave them in once they finally catch up. Donovan gives me a look like he knows exactly what I am doing, or not doing, and I hate him for it.

I trudge behind the two and tightly close my eyes and replace my sleeve over my nose and mouth before I enter the arch.

"Hello Falada," Adele says, perhaps a little overly cheerful, I suddenly recall how rude the horse had been while she was riding it.

"Adele," Falada replies, "you really should teach that new princess some respect for her lines, why do you know what she said to me this morning?"

"You know my father has no hair," I speak up from hiding behind Donovan.

"Alas young queen how ill you fare- hey!" Falada replies uncontrollably.

"No maybe it was something about a pickled pear?"

"Alas you queen how ill you- Stop it!" Falada exclaims, and I break out giggling then gagging on the foul air.

Donovan elbows me, "Quit it," he orders, but he is laughing, I know it, I don't even need to open my eyes to know. He's laughing on the inside.

Adele though is laughing somewhere in the middle and it sounds sort of like a muffled cough. I smile behind my sleeve.

"How dare you," Falada says all huffily.

"Sorry, sorry," I wave blindly at the wall, "We actually have a question for you."

"If it ends in anything that rhymes with 'there' I am not interested," he declares.

"I don't think I care to work that hard to think of one," I assure him and I feel Adele and Donovan shake their heads simultaneously beside me. "Alright, so, say I want to get out of this curse, without kissing this troll here," I motion blindly at Donovan.

"It can't be done," the stupid 1/5 of a horse declares before I even get all of it out.

"No, now see there has to be a way because I am going to get all three of us out of here," I demand simply.

Falada makes a choking sound that I don't really know what to make of.

"Please?" I plead, "There's gotta be some sort of back door or way to break out of this curse." I feel Adele making some sort of what I can only suppose are pleading movements beside me.

The horse clears his throat, "There is no such thing!" he says loudly, and I am about to get very frustrated and maybe even open my eyes and glare when I hear much quieter, "There might be a way."

All three of us shuffle closer. I'm holding onto Adele and Donovan so I don't bump into anything, though I don't know how much I even trust Donovan for that.

"I once heard the Fairy Godmother talking about a few places you can shock the curse, in a way, into losing its grip on you," he mutters quietly.

I grin, how terribly convenient, this is what I am looking for! "So what do I do and where do I do it?"

"I don't know, I only over heard the conversation," Falada says, and almost instantly he drops back down on my list to being an annoyance.

"Of course," I mutter.

"Well then who WOULD know?" Donovan speaks up beside me.

"Your best chance would be to try and find the puppet master," Falada replies.

"He- what? Makes the clones or something?" I interrupt, rather curious.

"In a way," Falada replies. This puppet master sounds powerful. "Your best chance to catch him would be in the crystal forest of the 12 Dancing Princesses," he informs us.

"Right, crystal forest, I just like wander in there?" I mutter.

"Indeed."

"Well, then," I say, clapping my hands and quickly backing off.

"Wait!" Falada calls before I can leave, "I would ask a favor."

"Sure," I mutter, eager to get out of there soon.

"When you return to your world, burn the curse book," he sounds almost desperate.

"Do I get to ask why?" I inquire.

"It is the only copy of the curse," Falada says in way of explanation… I make a face. Why would he want that?

"It will release all the magical beings and spirits who are bound to the curse," Donovan supplies. Gotcha. Maybe I should have taken that stupid spell theory class.

"Well, alright then," I say quickly, absolutely ready to get out of here quick. A little too quick I guess because I blindly back right up into Donovan. I jump away as soon as I collide, but my eyes jerk open-

Falada is NOT looking so good, to put it simply.

I feel nauseous. I am out of there so fast I am sure I just set a world record. Several yards away I lean towards the wall and struggle to keep my last meal down.

"Dairson are you alright?" I hear behind me. I want to say 'Do I LOOK alright?' but I can barely breathe right much less speak. I manage to shake my head. "I hadn't realized I had that effect on women," he jokes… lamely. I turn and glare at him, and with a shaky breath manage to say, "Didn't you know? Just the sight of you makes my stomach churn."

He grins back, "All in the job." I roll my eyes, ridiculous git. I push away from the wall and steady my self again, rubbing the awful image from my eyes.

"I didn't realize you were that squeamish."

"Shut up," I shoot back, "Shouldn't you be convincing Conrade to talk to you or something?"

"Whatever you wish," he says with a ridiculous flourish-y bow before trotting off.

I think he is making fun of me. I really think so, why else would he be switching personalities like Jekyll/Hyde on speed?

"Whatever," I mutter to myself, hiking back up the hill. Though I stop halfway when I suddenly decide that there is really no reason to bother, might as well just get back to Lexi and wait for my conversation with the stove.

**Like it? Of course you did. NOW, I am getting very bored with my summary. As you might have noticed, I change it as often as nail polish(if I wore the stuff). If anyone thinks they are good at summaries and cares to give me a hand with a new one I would be eternally indebted! And I would give you a shout out in the A/Ns, of course.**


	22. Loop Hole

**Yeah, so school has eaten my life, cross country has licked the plate, and sleep is not a factor any more. This could be the last chapter for a very long while as it was written a few days before school madness began. Don't blame me, blame five AP classes and the XCountry team, though I guess it is my own fault for seeming to enjoy killing myself. Ah, whatever. Junior year... so much fun, and it's only the first week! Anyway, I'll stop wasting time-**

Loop Hole

So I'm sitting at the kitchen table, sipping some tea and running through the story in my head when I start remembering the end of the fairy tale. Mainly the part about dragging the fake princess behind a pair of horses in a barrel of nails.

This curse would be so freaking much easier if I didn't have to keep worrying about 'punishing' Adele! I hate having be creative! Why would the curse even WANT to do that to some one?! Blood thirsty sadist.

So I am cradling the tea and trying to brainstorm a way out of THIS one, when Donovan shows up, sporting several lovely goose feathers that hadn't been there before. I think he fell or got attacked, and it really brightens my day that wonderful little bit. Donovan makes a face at me and I take a big sip of tea to try and hide the smile taking over my face. I end up burning my tongue. Stupid Donovan.

My laughter brings Lexi's attention away from whatever she had been stirring or whatever and on to Donovan. She frowns. Oh right, I had forgotten to mention Donovan's increased role to her. "You are not in the story yet," she scolds, waving her Spoon of Doom in Donovan's direction.

"There has been a change of plans," Donovan explains, walking over to Lexi, either oblivious to or stupidly unafraid of her still waving Spoon. "The king is missing so I am taking over his part in the story. Dairson SHOULD have mentioned this to you, but I guess she hasn't," he says louder than is quite necessary. I continue sipping my tea with my back to him.

"Have you talked to Dray about that?" she asks hesitantly.

"I haven't seen him since Cinderella," Donovan replies, and is that a hint of relief I hear in his voice? "Look could I talk to Elle alone?" he asks. Lexi blows out through her lips but she and the prop people hustle out all the same.

"Alright, lets get this interrogation over with," Donovan says, throwing himself into the chair across from me.

"Oh but sir, I have sworn not to tell!" I say in a high pitched dramatic voice, and continue staring at the quickly shrinking depths of my teacup.

Donovan snorts, "Right. You really are a terrible actress."

"But you are a wonderful actress," I shoot back.

"Aww, how long did it take you to think of that one?"

I just stick out my tongue. "On a more serious note, have you considered what we are going to do about NOT putting Adele in a barrel of nails? I want to address that before we go any farther."

"I had just been hoping we could avoid it like last time," he grimaces, clearly at a lack of better ideas, "I wouldn't worry about it, I won't let anything happen to her," he adds.

Awww, I KNEW IT! I just knew they liked each other!

"Let hope," I say, careful to keep the excitement out of my voice. "Alright well, I'm just going to confess my story to this here oven," I push out my chair and stand up, "so if you wouldn't mind leaving, perhaps you might prefer conversing with some pipes which just so happen to be connected to here, instead?" I say sarcastically. Turning my back to him to walk to the coal oven thing. I hear a chuckle and the door closes after a few seconds. I peek back and see that he is gone. So I give him a few seconds to find whatever pipe he needs to find and I open the oven door.

Good Grimm that is sweltering hot! As soon as I open the door a wave of heat washes over me, and the girl supposedly crawls into the oven? Yeah right, I'll just shout from farther back if you don't mind. Why confine my story to just the oven, why shouldn't all of the kitchen appliances get to hear? Wouldn't want to make the cabinets jealous now would I?

So I take a few steps back, take a deep breath and start shouting.

"I AM THE PRINCESS THAT IS SUPPOSED TO MARRY THE PRINCE, MY MAID TOOK MY HORSE AND GARMENTS AND IS PRETENDING TO BE ME, SHE THREATENED ME NOT TO TELL A SOUL AND SO NOW I AM SHOUTING MY STORY TO THIS REDICULOUS OVEN. OH WOULDN'T IT BE CONVINENIENT IF SOMEONE HAPPENED TO HEAR THIS? YOU GOT ALL THAT DONOVAN?"

I hear a clatter from the oven and smile. You think I was too blunt? Well, subtlety never was my strong point, and Donovan seems to enjoy constantly informing me just how terrible my acting is anyway, why ruin his fun? He's not clever enough to some up with another thing to mock me about.

I take my seat back at the table with my tea and Donovan is quick to reenter the kitchen. "Oh my what could you possibly be doing back here?" I say, not even looking up at him. He is grinning as he takes a seat across from me.

"Well that was certainly am interesting way of approaching it," he says lightly.

"What, me? Interesting? What ever would give you that impression?" I grin, demonically.

"Come on, lets go find you a dress or whatever," Donovan rolls his eyes.

"Aww, don't be jealous, we can get you one too!" I tease.

You know, it is almost possible to get along with him when we share a common goal like saving Adele. But don't you blow that out of proportion! Almost is a key word there!

I had really been looking forward to the feast, until the feast actually arrived that is. I had been hoping to stuff my face full of whatever was available. Turns out it all tasted awful. Well, except for Lexi's soup. That continues to be the only edible thing. What's worse, all my light nibbling gives me time to worry about what is going to happen to Adele.

So I am sitting at some ridiculously long table with an equally ridiculous amount of clones seated there. The table is absolutely piled with food, but none worth eating. So I pretty much just end up picking at my nice new white dress and occasionally shooting glances at Donovan seated next to me at the head of the table, and the empty seat across from me waiting to be filled by Adele.

Finally I speak, "It's not like Adele to be late," I mutter to Donovan.

"I don't know about you, but I wouldn't exactly be punctual to my own painful execution," Donovan shoots back.

I grimace, and bite my lip. I WILL find a loophole out of this. I am brilliant at finding loopholes, just watch me…

It is a bit longer before Adele does show up, and I am on my fourth bowl of soup. She doesn't even look up from her feet as she takes her seat. She is clenching her hands and I now that I know what to look for I notice that she has probably been steeling herself for this all day.

"Eh, hey Adele," Donovan says slowly.

"Just ask the question and get it over with quick," she demands, still refusing to make eye contact. What? No! She is supposed to give me more time to think! Aww curse it!

"Alright," Donovan sighs.

They're both will-less spineless uncreative cowards!

"How would you punish a servant who has tricked a kingdom into believing that she is her master?"

Adele closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

Oh wait wait, my mind is working frantically. "Just a second," I interrupt the both of them. "Wait just-" I plead. Adele glares at me, yes yes, I know, she wants to do it while she still has the courage blah blah, but if they would just flipping let me think-

I've got it! Oh it's so brilliantly simple. Oh I AM BRILLIANT!

"Oh I AM brilliant!" I say out loud. Adele looks at me confusedly but Donovan has a grin that clearly shows he knows I must have figured it out. I look proudly at the two, "Why that is an easy one!" I say pushing my chair out and trotting over to the other side of the table to whisper in Adele's ear. She grins as soon as I explain my idea.

Oh it's got to work, it just HAS to work, it would be COMPLETELY unfair if it doesn't work!

"Why I would say that person should be punished by being returned to her position as a maid," Adele says slowly.

I hold my breath as I look at the two of them, either waiting for the curse to black out and restart or… just continue. Oh please it really should work! It must! It is a punishment of her own creation… should it really matter exactly what it is?

After several seconds I slowly let out my breath and I hear Adele and Donovan do the same. I think it worked…

GREAT GRIMM IT WORKED! I am a genius!

I grin wickedly at Donovan and Adele as I walk back to my seat.

"It worked, Dairson!" Donovan whispers almost proudly.

Why should he be proud? I did it! It's my idea, no way is he getting credit for my brilliance.

"Well then that shall be your punishment," I say loudly, trying to keep from smiling so wide. I don't know how much more wheedling the curse will accept, I am willing to do this last bit by the book. Oh please let it keep working…

Donovan catches the hint and nods, "Indeed, you shall be returned to you position as a maid for it is you who has committed that crime." Adele has the skills to look ashamed even though she is beaming.

Donovan turns to me, really laying on those acting skills, I guess maybe he has the right to mock mine… "And as for you, my love, we shall be married tomorrow."

I grimace, it is so weird and wrong hearing that from Donovan. If he does it again my ears might just bleed.

Suddenly the world starts to fade to black! We are either done or after a delayed decision the curse has finally decided that we cheated (even though we really didn't). I cross my fingers before the world fades completely. Oh please, I REALLY don't think I could handle redoing this tale.

**Well, it's not really long, but at least I finished the Goose Girl for you all! Well, farewell dearhearts, who knows when we shall meet again?**


	23. The Professor

The Professor

I am a little confused this time as my half world visit starts. I am in a room that I cannot recognize instantly. It is only vaguely familiar to me, and it takes me a few moments to recognize the first few people I spot.

Teachers. I am in the teacher's lounge.

Why in the two worlds would I get dumped here?! Of course I suppose it's not really a why. Very little about this curse seems to have a purpose beyond making my life miserable, so why shouldn't I be dumped in the teacher's lounge?

I peer around, it's a bit bland of a room, some couches, some lamps, a book case and a table. A door at the far corner swings open with a muted creak and who should step through but Jaz. Oh good, so I am still following her. Well, I guess that should make sense since she is the person I am closest to in the two worlds and between!

I go towards her to find out what she is doing, in the teacher's lounge no less.

"Who are you?" my intent is interrupted by a voice I have never heard before and I swing around to find that this has only gotten creepier. Apparently the teachers don't have a lot to do in here because one seems to have fallen asleep. It only makes it more awkward that I don't really recognize this teacher. A stout and balding man with a scraggly sort of mustache, he either teaches Intermediate Plot Recognition or Advanced Spell Theory.

Curse it! I am really starting to regret not having taken that class!

"Uh, hello, I'm Elle Dairson, I'm a student here," I say, feeling beyond awkward, "Having a nice nap?"

The teacher rubs his eyes and blinks at me, "I'm sleeping? Then you must be my dream? What are you doing in my dream?" the man makes a nervous sort of face.

"Uhh," I start, but he doesn't even wait for the answer.

"You really need to lay off the sweets Paul, this is more like a nightmare… don't I get enough of you people in class?" I'm not sure if I should be offended or severely creeped out.

"Look sir, I- I don't really know why I'm here, but if it helps I was already here and you just happen to see me because you're asleep, I'm not really a part of your… uhh, subconscious." That didn't come out as well as I had hoped. It made more sense in my head.

"You're that missing student!" he exclaims, and adds under his breath, "that's a relief."

"Uh…" I say not sure if I should confirm it or not.

"Ah yes, Jasmine approached me earlier today about you. Shame she couldn't seem to remember much of what had happened in the dream. So now you have come to me?" he has a bit of a smug look…

"Well, I'm actually still following Jaz," I say motioning over to Jaz who seems to be trying to find something.

"Following you say?" the teacher says rather interestedly.

"Well I suppose," I mutter, not at all liking the look he is giving me, like I am some sort of specimen or something. "I mean, I seem to be where ever she is while the curse is loading the next fairytale…" I trail off from the look the teacher is giving me. Very confused in case you were wondering. "Uhh," I mutter, realizing I should maybe try and explain, "the curse is running me through fairy tales, but it dumps me in the dream world in between, Donovan says it's because I screwed up the casting- wait where are you going!" for the man is starting to fade.

"I do believe I am being woken up," he observes.

"Well, that's great, how do you stop!" I sweep over the room and see that Jaz has made her way over to a sleeping teacher, MY sleeping teacher, and is shaking him awake. No damnit! And suddenly he is gone.

I struggle over to Jaz to try and hear what they are doing, if the teacher remembers anything because apparently Jaz didn't, but OF COURSE the curse is ready to steal me back now. Oh how I hate, hate, HATE what awful timing the curse has!

**Alas, I am gone all this time and have nothing but this measly little chapter to show for it. Like I said, school eats my life. But I can put any fears to rest, I am NOT going to forget about this story or just drop it and start a new one knock on wood I can barely even imagine thinking about another story I am so attached to this one. If any of you guys know what Nanowrimo is, yeah I am doing that this year. I am cheating a little on it though and instead of starting a new story I am sticking with this one and hopefully will over double what I have written in this story, or finish it. Whichever comes first. So never fear! I will try and update again soon, promise.**


	24. Heights

**Yes I know it's been a while, school eats my life, not even exaggerating. It's not like I just don't know how to schedual my time well it's like... my schedual is jam packed and I have spare time to eat and sleep... most of the time. Seriously, you guys are lucky to get anything much less this monster of a chapter. Ridiculously good one too, you guys are definitely gonna like this fairy tale, though it's really rather short, this is like... half of it. Be grateful! Any way now that I'm done complaining about my life... if you'll excuse me, I have a paper to continue writing.**

Heights

I wake up again this time in a bed, the most comfortable one yet. But I jerk up anyway and promptly begin cursing. Oh, that was probably the most frustrating trip to the real world yet! I was so close!

CURSES CURSES CURSES!

I growl and flop back into the fluffy pillows. They make a satisfying thump and I grab one and growl into the muffled whiteness. I HATE this curse! And my head is really itchy…

"I thought we had been making progress," I hear Lexi sigh somewhere above me. Oh what different ideas of "progress" we have.

"Lexi," I yell through the pillow, "Please shut up!" in my mind, I can almost see her turning brown and puffing up her cheeks. So before she can pinch me or yell at me or suffocate herself I throw off the pillow and growl, "I'm up, I'm up, I'm getting up."

I swing my legs out from under the thick white covers and get my first good look at my newest room. For all that the furniture is so fine, it is pretty bare. There's no carpet, no paintings, no shelves, nothing beyond the bed, a washstand, a vanity, and a window.

"So what is it this time?" I mutter to Lexi rubbing my eyes and scratching my itchy head.

"Rapunzel." Lexi says, back to her cheerful self. Oh how easy it is to please her, just do everything she says! Oh did I say easy? My mistake.

"What happened to 12 Dancing princesses?" I shoot back. The stupid horse had said-

"It comes when it comes," Lexi said vaguely. Well, that's just great. So now do I not only have no clue how many more fairy tales I have to go through to get my information, but I'll still have to wait for one of the special times to come up after that! I could be skipping over whatever those special shock parts are even now!

I groan and flop back on the bed running a hand through my hair, just to check. I should have noticed that one, an extra meter or two of hair is normally something you notice pretty quick, but I get a bit of an excuse, I had been lying on the bed and hadn't noticed the sudden addition of weight. I look down, searching for the end of my once sensible shoulder length hair. It is now in danger of being stepped on. No wonder my scalp is itching so badly, I just grew a lifetime's worth of hair in a few minutes!

I groan, this is the second fairy tale in a row where at least one person is trying to yank my hair! I run my hand through my hair once again, unused to the sudden length. I have never been vain enough about my hair to grow it out very long, and this sudden new addition is… upsetting. Not to mention, VERY heavy! I can barely support my neck properly! That is upsetting, to put it lightly.

"What is all this hair doing on my head!" I growl frustratedly, as I quickly manage to tangle myself up in it.

"You are Rapunzel-"

"I didn't mean it to be answered," I interrupt her, lifting the bottom of my new hair to keep from stepping on it. "And why does it have to be so cursed itchy!"

"Well-" Lexi starts.

"Rhetorical question," I sigh, trying to keep calm… well, not too angry at least.

"Well, you should stop asking them then," Lexi pouts, "And your first task is to braid it all," she informs me. I think it is a sort of revenge.

"You have GOT to be kidding me," I stare incredulously at her, and then at the hair. How am I even supposed to brush it?

"Unlike some people, I don't say useless things," she says pointedly. I roll my eyes. Great, I think I am rubbing off on her.

So I set about finding a brush and quite literally ripping the knots and tangles out of my ridiculously long hair. In case you were wondering it hurts and makes my head even more itchy. WHY would you ever want to have hair this long? I swear, I get a knot out only to get four more! My arm hurts before I even reach the bottom of one brush stroke and it must be an hour before I even start thinking about braiding it. It is a task just to divide the hair into three sections and by the time I have a yard of braid I am ready to use it as a noose for either Lexi or I, I have yet to decide. Of course Lexi is not doing anything to help, she's just fluttering around all smug and such, trying to tell me to braid tighter or work faster.

I am thinking all sorts or terrible things about hair, about braids, and about whoever decided that hair made a wonderful rope in this story. I make it down to my knees when it starts getting difficult to keep the tension required for a neat braid and my arms are killing me.

I hate hair. I hate hair. I hate hair.

I am almost ready to cry, set my hair on fire, anything. This is worse than the tiny feet! I just can't stand having so much weight on my head, how itchy my scalp is, how impossible of a task this is, added on to the fact that I am SO tired of this curse! But I persevere and it all ends up braided in a hopefully climbable rope, but I can't help but nearly ruin it all itching my head. With all of that mess finally beaten into submission I lean back in the vanity chair and try to refrain from turning my head too much (the constant thump of the braid on my back is just too much).

"When is that cursed lazy witch coming…?" I pause, actually I suppose it would be Adele so I guess I should change that statement to, "What is keeping Adele?"

Lexi shrugs.

No! She is not allowed to shrug, because shrugging would imply that she doesn't know what is going on and that is her job! To KNOW.

I groan and lean my head on the back of my chair. Hair is so heavy, it makes my neck sore. I manage to sit quietly for about ten minutes before I start getting very frustrated. What happened to the curse being responsive and such to my boredom?

Suddenly, I stand and walk to the window, well, really more of an arched hole in the wall. Remotely curious I peer out and sigh. Any view that might have been afforded by being in a tower, would of course just have to be cut off by trees. All of which, I might add, are just far enough away as to foil any escape plans.

I look down and realize that if I was really set on escaping, the trees wouldn't matter, the tower is not even two stories high! I could probably jump down and suffer only a sprained ankle! Well, as long as I could avoid the mass of brambles growing around the bottom.

Though I guess a short tower would make sense. If the tower was much taller than that any would-be-Rapunzel would have to be ancient by the time her hair was long enough to reach the bottom! And any princes who are still fit enough to climb straight up a wall supported by little more than a handful of hair are probably none too interested in old granny Rapunzel. Not to mention the climb would be near impossible if it was much longer, pretty tough on the arms and what. A little much for any prince for just a pretty face. Why I bet I could simply-

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair!" a familiar voice calls.

Well isn't that just convenient that the curse finally sends Adele along as soon as I start considering escape plans?

"Well, you heard her!" Lexi says from her place on the vanity.

I roll my eyes. "What took you so long?" I call back down to Adele's hunched and cloaked form, but I throw the ridiculously long braid down anyway. Adele doesn't respond, just gives my hair a little test pull. "Wait, wait!" Lexi shouts, but it's a little late.

Ogre crud!

I had NOT been ready for that! My head is jerked down with the first pull, and if I hadn't quickly braced myself against the wall I would have gone tumbling out as soon as she started climbing.

CURSES CURSES CURSES!!

I feel like my head is about to pop off for the few seconds before I scream "STOP STOP!" and the weight is released as Adele jumps off.

I slump on the floor, rubbing my neck and my poor scalp. It is a few minutes before I manage to push up off the floor and lever myself back into the window.

"What in the two worlds was THAT!" I shout at Lexi. How can I possibly be expected to do that?!

"You needed to use the hook!" Lexi explains shrilly, pointing to a hook-pulley thing arranged just on the outside of the wall.

"How exactly was I supposed to know that!" I demand, "You might have mentioned it! You are cursed lucked I didn't get my neck snapped trying to do that!"

"The curse wouldn't have let-"

"The curse is bloody broken!" I rage, "don't tell me what the curse would have done!"

My anger fades when I realize Lexi is looking really guilty... Well she should be! If she hadn't gotten so careless… No, no. That is my fault for being stupid. What in the two worlds had possessed me to think that I could lift a person with my hair alone?

I sigh, "Alright Lexi, how do I use the hook thing?"

Lexi flutters timidly over to the hook thing and helps me loop my hair through. Within minutes Adele is climbing a second time and there is little more than a slight tug on my poor battered head. I am still very relieved when Adele flops over the side of the window. I go to help her and again find myself almost pulling my head off.

"Curse it all!" I growl, yanking at my twice cursed bloody hair. I pull enough up to reach Adele and help pull her up to flop on the floor.

"I always hate that climb," she mutters to herself as I am struggling to pull my hair back up and out of the hook-pulley. With a final yank I am free and turn to Adele, "Hey, everything alright? You look a bit stressed," I comment while I distractedly fiddle with my hair, trying to tie it in some sort of knot so that I might actually manage not to trip over it.

Adele shakes her head and struggles up, that same blank glare from Cinderella back on her face. I shudder, now that I know her, it seems so out of place and wrong on her. "Hey what happened?" I ask, dropping my hair and turning to her, concerned.

Adele walks over to me, still glaring, and in a low voice says, "It might be better for now if we didn't talk too much while I'm playing the villain, the curse seems to be getting suspicious." I stare confusedly at her, quite worried. What exactly happened. Though as I look at her, she seems paler than normal, thinner almost.

Oh poor Adele, what happened!

Oh just wait until I get my hands on this curse! I will make it pay.

Adele catches the flash of vengeance on my face and quickly shakes her head, "It's nothing, just do it for a little while."

I groan but nod, making a reluctant face at the smaller woman.

"And remember Rapunzel, you are not to leave the tower," she says in a louder voice, and with that, she quite suddenly disappears.

What! Cheater, she didn't even need to climb my hair to get up here! Though I suppose it is really better that I screwed up with Adele rather than Donovan. If I miraculously should somehow manage to not get my head ripped off, I would have never heard the end of it from him, I am sure!

"Dairson!" Speak of the devil. Or perhaps just the devil himself.

Oh curses, that's right. He watches the witch climb the tower. Oh, I hope he didn't see that, please Grimm tell me he didn't see my horrendous screw up. He would think I was perhaps the stupidest being in existence.

I peek out the window, Lexi at my shoulder, and there is Donovan in some ridiculous getup, mounted on a bright white horse. "Well?" I call down, not sure what to say, but I quickly decide my best chance is just to avoid the subject and hope he doesn't even know. "Don't you have a bit about 'Let down your hair!'," I demand.

"How's your head?" he asks, avoiding my question. I instantly turn a bright red and duck back into the tower.

"Aww, Grimm cursed- he would just have to have- Curse it!"

"What are you doing?" Lexi demands.

"Hiding," I groan, twisting at my braid, I am never going to hear the end of this!

"Dairson!" I hear again.

"I don't want to hear it!" I call out to him.

"I just wanted to make sure you hadn't managed to injure yourself again," he calls up. Oh, sure, sure, that's all. And sure enough, "Could have caused some even worse brain damage than you already seem to have!" he laughs loudly, and I realize he is teasing more than mocking... jerk.

"You know what!" I try to frown and look stern, though it is difficult with him laughing. I stomp over to the window and quickly tie my hair up to the hook again, "Why don't you come up here and say that to my face!" I challenge and throw down the rope of hair.

Donovan is quite suddenly silent, just staring at the hair, he doesn't even bother to get off his horse.

"You climb it stupid!" I call down.

No response.

What in the world is wrong with that boy? "I don't want to hear anything about not wanting to touch my hair or some such nonsense." I roll my eyes, though quite truthfully I wouldn't quite have expected something like that from him.

"It's not that," he says and adds some muttering that I can't make out.

"Well, speak up, I can't hear you from all the way down there!"

A slightly louder mutter.

"Donovan, just spit it out!" I order, getting rather frustrated at all this-

"I don't like heights."

I blink down at him. Did I really just hear-? "You mean…you're afraid of heights!" I crow. "You can't be serious! It's not even really that high-"

"I don't like any heights!" Donovan growls back.

"Oh nonsense, I'm sure I've seen you…" I think, trying to think of an instance in which I have seen Donovan doing something daring at any height. I draw a blank.

"Wait right there!" I order, chuckling to myself as I pull in my braid and dash away from the window. I then proceed to tear the room apart.

"What are you doing!" Lexi says, scrambling around after me.

"You heard him!" I motion to the window, "I have to go down and get him," I giggle, suddenly finding this ridiculously funny. The great, brave, perfect Donovan is afraid of a little air under his feet!

"But why are you-" Lexi starts, but I break her off.

"Where is a pair of scissors… or a knife?"

"WHAT!?" Lexi shouts and I think she is about to have a stroke.

"I need to get down there," I repeat.

"Well, there is none of that, the witch keeps her own!" Lexi assures me, fuming that I would even consider such a blatant disregard for the story.

"Then I will have to make something real quick…" I peer around the room, judging the different items.

Bed post, too hard to break and it wouldn't really be sharp enough.

Mirror, to dangerous to try and cut with.

Brushes and combs, hardly.

Lexi, maybe I could get her so angry she would just tear my hair out!

Dear Grimm! This curse must really be learning! I get nothing! Absolutely nothing!

Oh wait! Duh, how stupid.

"Donovan!" I call, rushing to the window, "Have you got a sword on you? A dagger?"

"Sure," he mutters and pulls out a very nice shiny sword.

Oooohoho, that will do VERY nicely. I do appreciate a fine weapon.

"Well, send it up!" I call dropping my hair down. I see understanding cross Donovan's face and I grin. I am so brilliant. Without another word Donovan wraps the sword up in the hair rope and nods up to me. I quickly pull it up and within moments I have it in hand.

I can't tell you how nice it is to be holding a proper weapon again.

But I don't take much time to admire the wonderfully sharp metal in my hand. I take a tight grip of the sword and my braid and place the sword as close up to my neck as I can cut the braid. With a quick pull all of the weight on my head is suddenly released and my hair is released.

I experimentally fluff my now ear length hair. It feels so weird, I have never had it this short, but I would prefer even a buzz cut to having that much hair EVER again. I shake my head and grin. Whatever, I'll get it all back later.

"Look out below!" I shout and drop the sword point down into the dirt. The horse gets a bit of a start.

Next. I grab the braid, now little more than a hair rope and tie a tight knot at the newly cut edge, then double knot it. I'm going to need a big knot to hold me.

I now tie up my new rope to the contraption and give it a good hard tug before edging my weight out onto the window. I give it one more tug to check the safety and jump down. I swing down, hand over hand, a mix between repelling down and just sliding. I hear a sharp breath from Donovan and grin to myself.

Yeah, that's right! Heights? No problem for me!

In moments I am safely on the ground and I swing around to Donovan. "That was fun!" I declare shamelessly.

Donovan makes a face at me and I stick out my tongue. I suddenly can't control my laughter and I break out in giggles. Donovan frowns.

"How can you be afraid of heights?" I ask, my laughter steadily getting wore, "You're an elf! You're," I break off, unable to breathe, "Donovan!" I finish after a moment.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he mutters, looking rather like a wet cat, in other words, very uncomfortable. I struggle to get control of my breathing.

"Really?" I ask again, finally settling down, "that wasn't just to get me down here? Make me do all the work?"

"I wouldn't even take those Astronomy classes because they were outside of the tower," he admits grudgingly.

"You are never going to hear the end of this," I warn him with a grin.

"I wouldn't expect anything else," he mutters with a sort of forced smile, "But if you get to tease me about that, then I at least get to ask. What is that thing on your head?!"

I frown, touching my rather fluffy hair. "I hacked it off with a sword, you can't really expect much."

"It still looks like a carrot exploded in your hair," Donovan grins.

"Oh yes, because that's what every girl wants to hear," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm, "that she looks like produce exploded on her."

Donovan snorts.

"Besides, it's only temporary," I shrug confidently.

"No seriously, have you looked in a mirror-" Apparently he needs some help dropping the subject.

"Oh I've got one up in the tower, care to use it?" I shoot back.

"Well, then you really must not have used it or it would be broken by now!" he comes back, not missing a beat.

"Awww, ugly comebacks? Is that the best you've got? Come on, I gave you gold!" I shoot back.

"You mean-"

"Cut it out!" Lexi swoops down and interrupts Donovan before he can finish. Aww, come one, I was on a roll!

Fun sucker.

I raise an eyebrow up at Donovan and we exchange grins. The war will continue later.

"Alright Lexi, what do you want?" I sigh at the miniature little dictator.

"Back up in the tower, now!" she orders, almost to the point of incomplete sentences.

I glance over at Donovan, who has returned to his horse, and catch his eye. The look I give him clearly says, "It will be finished, and you don't stand a chance." The look is returned.

With that done, I take a hold of the rope, wrapping my hand around it, and plant my foot on the tower wall. I quickly drop the braid and stumble back with a startled cry.

Lexi gives me a funny look and I hear Donovan's horse give a snort of protest.

"The tower was vibrating…" I try to explain, struggling back up to touch the tower.

Nothing.

"Well it was," I mutter, shrugging it off and gripping the rope again.

I find that, just as I predicted, going up is much more difficult than going down. The breeze isn't helping either.

"You want some sort of help?" Donovan calls up.

I snort, "Some help you would be. Besides, it's not that much!" My arms beg to differ, and thus begins the war between my strength and my stubborn pride.

"You're sure?"

"Shut up, I'm almost there!" I shoot back, and within the next few seconds I manage to awkwardly manage my way back into the window. I can hear that Donovan is terribly amused. I sit on the window for a few moments, just letting my arms regain some feeling. "Alright," I turn back down to Donovan, "I'm up, and fine, now shoo!"

Donovan nods and gets back on his horse. I duck back into the tower and tackle the bed. Well, now what do I do? It would have been more fun to pass all this down time arguing, and Lexi doesn't argue, just demands.

I sigh and flip over on my back. My eyes closed I lay there, and it can't be more than a few seconds before something begins to feel off. I try to focus on what exactly that something is.


	25. Guilt Trip

**You will either be ridiculously happy or ridiculously annoyed to hear that this is perhaps the last you will see of me this month, as I embark on a ridiculous Nanowrimo journey. This is good becuase hopefully I will either finish this story, or be really really close to finished come Dec. This may be bad becuase you will not get anything more for a while and some of the chapters you will get may be absolute Nano-word-count-filler-crap, but hopefully not many of them. Also becuase....**

Guilt Trip

"Grimm!" I shout suddenly, leaping up from the bed. "Lexi, the tower is vibrating again!"

"What?" Lexi says confusedly, landing experimentally on a desk.

"Why exactly would I make up something like that?" I shoot back, walking awkwardly around the room. The tower isn't shaking or anything, it's just a strong vibration, like a massage chair… weird. "I'm supposing this isn't normal."

"I have no idea why this is happening!" Lexi says, pulling at her braids, I think she is really starting to get stressed, but I don't get to savor the slight revenge.

Suddenly I find myself on the floor as it goes from a vibration to violent shaking. "Curses!" I shout trying to get back on my feet. I hear a creaking and the stones all start shaking more individually.

Pillows start falling off the bed and the vanity is threatening to do something dangerous. I climb unsteadily to my feet, and move quickly to the window with Lexi buzzing around in a frenzy. The trees aren't even disturbed by the spontaneous collapse of my tower. I take a tight hold of the braid and am just edging myself out of the window when the shaking increases again. I tumble out the window and my arm feels like it is being wrenched out of its socket. Bricks are now starting to work themselves out as I try to hurry down while avoiding falling shingles, I am not so successful.

My entire arm suddenly goes numb, and for one terrifying moment I loose my grip on the rope. I glance down at my now useless arm, painless, but the quickly coloring is not at all reassuring. Curses!

I try to keep moving down, now, one handed. Much harder than it sounds, and it sounds pretty hard doesn't it? I wrap my arm in the braid and try to move with my feet all while avoiding more vindictive shingles and getting to the bottom before the bricks work them selves out. I manage about half way to where I need to be to drop and safely avoid the brambles before the bricks start to fall.

CURSES!

"Dairson, jump!" I hear below me. I take a single instant to groan at how damsel in distress-esque this seems before I let go of the braid and drop. The fleeting doubt runs through my head that I probably should have taken more time to consider this instead of that stupid, unthinking, split second decision. I mean, I just put my safety in the hands of-

Oof.

I land winded, but whole and mostly unbroken in Donovan's arms. Yes I can appreciate the irony, shut up, I don't care to hear it at the moment, or ever for that matter.

I am set down in the grass a few yards from the danger zone, and of course the first thing Donovan says is, "You see, my fear of heights is justified."

I groan and sprawl out on the grass.

"What in the two worlds just happened!" I groan, tightly shutting my eyes.

"I would say the tower just collapsed," Donovan mutters, falling to the grass as well. I peek over at the tower and sure enough it is finishing quietly shaking itself apart.

"How perceptive of you," I try to push myself up but am quickly reminded of my invalid arm. I groan, "I can't really tell, but I think my arm is… whatever works for broken in this bloody place." I peer over at Donovan and suddenly notice how banged up he is looking. I start up, "And what happened to you?"

Donovan grimaces, as if his pain isn't numbed, why wouldn't it be?

"You would have fallen into the brambles," he shrugs it off like it's nothing. I suddenly feel guilty… curse it!

"Can you feel it?" I ask, pushing to my knees and hurrying over to him.

"Yeah, but-"

"You idiot!" I knock him on the head with my good arm, "You should have just let me fall! At least I don't feel pain in here!"

"Hey, you don't get to call me an idiot, you owe me now," Donovan grimaces.

"No I get to call you an idiot and a troll brain and all other manner of insults I can think of for being so stupid!" I shoot back, examining his arm and then leg.

"Don't do that again," Donovan takes a sharp breath when I touch his ankle, "the brambles really dug in down there."

"I'm not sure if I can reiterate enough how stupid that was," I say grudgingly, lifting his pant leg to find a bloody torn up ankle. I frown, I'm sure it looks worse than it really is but it looks pretty gross, and we are remembering that I am sqeamish.

"Shouldn't I get some sort of credit for saving you?" he guilts me.

"You do," I say, poking the other ankle, perhaps harder than I need to, "normally I would be sitting here mocking you, for getting these trying to satisfy some knight in shining armor complex. But since it was me you were pretending to save I am being guilted into pretending to show concern here, so be grateful!" I shoot back.

"You are so difficult to please," Donovan mutters, falling back into the grass with a wince.

"Yeah, yeah, blame all of women kind," I say. "Look, I have no idea what we'll do about the fairy tale, and Lexi seems to have disappeared. But for now at least, I am gonna go see if I can find some water to maybe wash off the blood a little." I feel better with a plan, however lame it maybe.

"Stay out of any more towers, I'm not gonna rescue you again," Donovan mutters moodily.

I roll my eyes but struggle up without the use of my arm, harder than I thought it should be. Good thing I'm left handed at least.

I glance back at Donovan, sprawled in the grass, arm over his face, before I start off into the trees.

I can't get over my guilt as I wander deeper into the woods, and it sucks. I am not supposed to feel any sort of sympathy for Donovan Erubus, source of all evil, but… well, he's not that evil if I am perfectly honest. Somehow, somewhere I started tolerating him and he suddenly turned out to be… amusing.

I stop, shocked by this sudden realization. I wouldn't go so far as to admit that I think of him as a friend, but I far from hate him as much as I did. Which is quite something.

I don't want to have to think about this any more.

So instead I stumble through the forest trying so hard not to think that I don't even notice the stream until I am face down in it, sputtering water and feeling quite stupid.

I haul myself out of the stream, really not much more than a large pebbly trickle, muttering all sorts angry things and blowing at the water still hanging onto my lips. I look down at my soaked front and curse. Just what I needed. Curse my stupid arm, if I had had control of my arm I would have had better balance or at least have been able to catch myself. Shut up, I would never lie to you.

I crawl out of the stream, shaking water out of my short hair and turning the hacked up frizzy mess into a stringy tangled mess and use my one arm to try and wring out my dress. I should really do something about my other arm, but it is easier to just ignore it for the moment. Wow, am I messed up at the moment.

"Alright well," I mutter, "at least I found the cursed water, now to just…" I trail off realizing I have no way of transporting the water to Donovan.

Wow, smart.

Here I am trying to be oh so terribly smart and helpful and all I manage is to waste my time! I bet Donovan noticed too, I bet he was just covering up his grin when he put his arm over his face because he realized how stupid I was being!

"AHG!" I growl at the sky and flop down in a mass of skirts and frustration and wet hair. I run my fingers through my mop of hair and try and think of how exactly I am going to transport water without any sort of container.

'Bucket, bucket, bucket,' I think at the curse, hoping it might catch the hint and just drop a bucket into my lap, it seems to be dropping just about everything else on top of me anyway!

But of course, no luck. But that would just be far too easy now wouldn't it?!

I grown and rest my forehead on my knees. I sit, listening to the stream and trying to think.

Suddenly I have an idea. It probably won't work, but it's better than sitting here.

"Well, here goes nothing," I mumble under my breath, stumbling back over to the stream before I step right into it and lie down. I quickly soak every inch of the cottony blue fabric of my over dress. No where near the most effective or most sanitary way to transport water, but if I am lucky and I hurry, I should get back to Donovan with some water… I hope.

I take a quick sip of the water myself before climbing out with my now water logged clothes, and I start off at a jog back towards where I hope Donovan is.

The curse must still be helping me a little bit because even after what I am sure are two wrong turns I end up back on the other side of the tower clearing even sooner than I had hoped.

I give the mass of tumbled stones a wide berth and hurry over to Donovan. He is seated upright and examining his injuries himself, but as soon as he hears me he looks up and despite how absolutely ridiculous I must look I grin proudly.

"I am going to hate myself later for being too tired at the moment to think of anything clever to say about this," Donovan says with a half grin.

"I'll let you take a nap or something later," I say as I struggle out of the top layer of my dress without squeezing any water out, "for now, just be glad you are getting anything, the curse wouldn't give me a bucket."

"I see where that might've posed a problem," I hear Donovan's muffled response through the dress as I pull it all the way of my head leaving me in a looser but still just as wet white under dress.

"Here," I say, tossing the wet over dress at Donovan. He flails as the dress catches him in the face.

"Thanks, I really needed that," he mutters, gathering the skirt into a more compact ball.

"Well, your face really is looking the worst at the moment," I grin. I frown as Donovan tries but fails at trying to reach his legs without bending too much.

"Oh give me that," I say bending down and snatching the dress away from him.

I hear him hiss as soon as I start wiping away blood, "I know you aren't really a girl, Dairson, but could you try and be a little less rough?"

"I know you aren't really mature but could you stop being such a baby?" I shoot back, but trying to be a little more careful all the same.

Donovan makes a big show as if he is going to say something and then stops, "You know, I don't think I even need to say anything, you're hair is ridiculous, you are soaking wet, and your dress is practically see-through, nothing I say could be better than what you have done to yourself!" he says with a half grin.

"What!" I shriek clutching the blue dress over my front and stumbling up and away, "It's not that bad it is? It was stiflingly thick while it was dry and-"

"And now it's wet," Donovan finishes.

"Aw, cursed- you troll headed creep!" I growl, backing quickly away with the over dress. "I can't believe you-"

Donovan rolls his eyes, "Aww, come on, Dairson, I was just kidding, it's not that bad, honest, I was just… I was just being a guy, now come back here with that water," he orders.

"You just had to go and make that awkward!" I say, not moving an inch. If he thinks that I am going to… after that… what if he was leering at me that whole time!

"Please, Elle," he says rolling his head back, "I'll trade you my jacket if it's that awkward for you now, I'd just really like to get this blood off of me."

"Alright," I mutter, holding my hand out for the jacket before I will do anything.

Donovan makes a face but quickly takes off his own dark green and gold jacket and tosses it to me.

I am struck by the feeling that something is weird. I try to think of what it is as I put the jacket on and pull it tightly around me before I return with the dress. It hits me as I kneel down to resume cleaning off his cuts.

"You called me Elle," I accuse, dabbing at a cut that had sneaked its way inside his boot, still holding onto the jacket with my numb arm.

"My mistake," he says quickly, avoiding eye contact, "Won't happen again _Dairson_."

"Oh shut up," I say, giving his leg a final dab before I throw the dress at him again, "I could care less what you call me, I was just noticing..."

"Yeah well…" Donovan trails off, wiping off his hands before laying the dress down beside him. I rock back on my heels, wrapping my arms around my midsection, not really sure what to say.

I blame Donovan for making it all so awkward.

Suddenly the world starts to fade to black. "Well, finally!" I exclaim, "took the bloody thing long enough to figure out it had screwed up! Gonna suck doing this over again though," I grin over at Donovan who collapses back on the grass at the thought of more heights. "Next time though, I'm cutting my hair to its normal length," I declare before the curse goes completely black.

I am taken completely off guard when the world starts to reappear and instead of Rapunzel's tower I find myself in the library again.

WHAT IN THE TWO WORLDS!

I must have disobeyed the story in every bloody way imaginable and yet I some how pass? I had to repeat Cinderella because I didn't do all my chores! I had to repeat Little Red Ridinghood for no reason at all! And in Rapunzel I knock down the whole bloody tower and it's fine?!

I mean, I'm not complaining that I don't have to do it over but… well yeah, I kind of am complaining, because this nonsense is driving me crazy! I mean, what am I supposed to do if whether I repeat or not is seemingly random!

I groan and fall back onto my butt, hiding my face in my hands.

This entire curse is a mess, a screwed up thrice cursed mess, and now that I don't hate Donovan with a burning passion, and the glitches and the tower and… nonsense, it is starting to feel like it is my fault!

I sigh heavily, dropping entirely onto the floor as if the air is suddenly a force too strong to fight. I bite my lip and press my eyes with the heels of my hands, trying really hard to find some reason not to just give up entirely.

This is so stupid, I got through the fairy tale! I didn't have to repeat even though I failed it miserably. I should be celebrating, not wallowing in misery!

I don't move.

I don't want to do this anymore! This curse, this mess, cleaning, cooking, plotting, matchmaking, THINKING! I don't want to think anymore. I just want to wake up one more time and be in my bed and for all of this to be a bad dream. I want to go to my classes, complain about homework, joke with Jaz, glare daggers at Donovan when we pass in the hall… well, maybe we could stay on good terms but… the idea is I don't want this anymore. I never wanted it. It was just an accident, a horrible terrible accident. I dealt with it until now, I was taking care of it, I could handle it. That's just who I am, I can always handle anything that gets thrown at me, but I don't want to handle it anymore! I want someone else to start taking care of it, to take care of me! I want someone to burst in and start telling me all the answers, tell me how everything works and make up plans for me, and then take care of them so I can just sit back and not mess anything up any more! I need a knight in shining armor, that's what I need! Someone to sweep in and give me my own fairy tale! How ironic is that? The fairy tale curse that I am fighting every step of the way trying to get out of, is supposed to give me exactly that, my own happily every after, and yet there is still none in sight!

Besides even if there was some sort of white knight to sweep into the fairy tale and make everything oh so perfect again what exactly are my chances that he would fall for me?

About zero.

Of course a guy like that would want a prettier girl, or more clever, or nicer, or girlier. Someone who didn't even have the remotest chance of kicking their butts in a fight, physical or verbal. Someone who wasn't sarcastic or loud or cynical.

Guys suck. A bunch of stupid, immature, hypocritical-

I finally notice the pressure building in my forehead, threatening to come out in tears and it finally forces me to realize how pointless all this self pity is. I am not going to get out of this curse by wishing, if that worked, the world really would be a fairy tale.

I sit up and rub my temples, relieving the pressure in my head. I don't have time for this. I have two complex plans that need doing simultaneously and if I don't do them, no one will. I have to find out about this puppet master character while getting Donovan and Adele to fall in love, AND keep the curse moving along and not just deciding to trap me there forever!

Crying and self pity factor in nowhere.

With a final sigh I struggle up to my feet, ready to do something slightly more productive, hopefully, when I realize the world is fading back out again.

Great, there goes all that time, lost!

**... did I confuse you? Felt like moving to the bottom of the page. Anyway, even if by some miracle I do manage to finish this story, you will still be getting it chapter by chapter because I am evil and like reviews. Besides, it wouldn't be the same without the suspense would it? And I know someone out there would get angry at me if I posted 50,000 words worth of story and they felt tempted to read it all in one night and then there would be the lawsuits over their school grades dropping... and my lawyers have just generally advised against it. So be grateful that you are getting a nice long chapter to tide you over (and so soon after the last) and I will see you next month!**


	26. Demon Princesses

**You may all celebrate now, I have indeed returned. **

**Alright, so I didn't actually win Nano this year... didn't even make half, but hey, I still got some. Moved the plot along, finished a fairy tale and a half, so that's something right? There are probably a few... dry spells, as far as interesting goes, but for now, enjoy a nice long chapter!**

Demon Princesses

I am awoken by a shrill scream, several in fact and the sound of something breaking. I groan, slowly open my eyes, and quickly shut them again. The room is crawling with little girls! Shrill, running and screaming, all in bright blond little pig tales. I quickly run through the fairy tales in my mind, which one involves baby sitting?

There is a sudden weight dropped onto my legs, jerking me into complete wakefulness. I glare around, looking for the offending weight and find myself looking at the strangest sight I have seen yet. I thought it was strange to see Lexi as the cook, but that was nothing compared to seeing a bright green toddler with big black eyes and… dare I say it… no I… I can't. I'm sorry, but you don't even want to know, I'm not even sure if I can describe it. The wings, or what were wings until she was a toddler, they are.. they look like, well, jellyfish is the only way I can think of to describe them. Just know that it is sufficiently frightening that I shoot out from under the lacy covers to sprawl on the floor.

"Lexi!" I shout shrilly.

The little green toddler just smiles widely and claps her hands, giggling at me. I look incredulously at her. Something is beyond wrong here!

"Elle!" Thank Grimm, here comes Adele, thankfully not in toddler form!

"Adele!" I whine, "WHAT is going on?" Adele takes one look at the green little monster on my bed and grimaces.

"That's new," she mutters. I groan again, trying to flop back on the cold tile ground but only managing to bang my head on the bedpost of a bed ridiculously close to mine. Ouch.

"New is not good!" I declare, rubbing the back of my head furiously. I gasp as realization hits me. I rub the back of my head again, then run my hands through my hair.

"NO!" I shout, pulling at my still short and hacked up hair, "Not fair!"

"Elle, what-?" Adele says rushing over to crouch near me on the floor, "Oh," she says, understanding hitting her.

"It stole my hair!" I accuse, glaring at everything I can lay eyes on, which at the moment amounts to about two beds, Adele, and grinning green baby. I groan again and pull at the blankets spilling off of my bed trying to cover my hair. All I can think at the moment is that I look like exploded produce. Exploded produce! This is a mess! Not fair! Ohh, my poor hair.

Adele gently pulls the blanket away from my face. "Elle," she says firmly, obviously trying to get me to talk some sort of sense, "What happened?"

I let out a deep breath. I am going to get so much crap from Donovan.

"I cut off my Rapunzel hair," I say, not quite able to make eye contact, "And now I look like a carrot exploded on my head," I groan.

"Elle, it's not that bad-"

"That's what Donovan said!" I moan.

"And since when did you care what he thought?" Adele gives me a look.

I shut my mouth quickly and glare at her, "I don't, I just… Shut up."

That goes for you too, not a single word unless it is to pity me!

"What's wrong with Lexi?" I say, quickly trying to change the subject.

Adele frowns, "I don't know, I've never seen this happen before."

"Well then what's with all the little kids?" I ask, sitting up straighter to try and get another look at the… what I suppose is a nursery.

"There aren't that many-" Adele starts, but I stand up quickly to try and look.

It seems my initial glance was not quite accurate. There aren't as many little kids as I had initially guessed. But there are definitely a lot of girls in the room, ranging from my age to the toddlerized Lexi. They are all running around the room or lounging in chairs, a few are even still sleeping, though how they can manage it with the racket some of the girls are making I don't know.

The room is huge, beds and toys and wardrobes everywhere.

"Twelve Dancing Princesses, huh?" I say taking a careful seat on my bed, far away from little Lexi.

"And you're the eldest," Adele adds, sitting on the bed across from me.

"Of course," I mutter. "Lexi!" I push the little toddler now trying to crawl on my back away. She starts to cry. But of course it's not crying like human babies do, it's a high pitched and particularly annoying buzzing sound.

Of course, just my luck.

"No, no, no!" I grimace, "Okay, you climb on my back, just-"

She continues crying. I am so bad with kids!

"Adele!" I turn to her pleadingly.

"Hold her or something," she mutters, hands over her ears, by this point everyone in the room is glaring at Lexi and I. I break down and grab the little bug, trying to bounce her into quietness, and just hoping it doesn't look like I am trying to kill her. I am so bad with kids!

Suddenly I am standing in the same room but at the end of a line, now out of my pajamas and dressed in a blue dress with the archetypal king talking at me and the other girls!

WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!!

I look around, discombobulated at the other girls, trying to figure out why the world just suddenly skipped.

Adele is standing to my left and looking just as confused as I.

"What just-"

"Elle!" the king, my supposed father, demands, "What did I just say?"

"Uhhh-" I say, skimming through the story in my head to think of some sort of answer. "'You're going to invite any man in the kingdom to try and figure out how we are dancing our shoes to pieces with the prize of marrying us, but if he can't figure it out in three days you'll have him killed."

The king looks at me as if I had just done something very strange, "Well, yes I'm going to… but I hadn't said that yet."

Oh, whoops.

Adele giggles beside me. Well, that's what he gets for questioning a Realizer.

"Well, Elle is right," the puppet king declares, "That is exactly what I am going to do about this." Every girl in the room erupts into indignant chatter.

"What was that?" I use the noise to cover my question to Adele.

"I don't know!" Adele says biting her lip, "None of this has ever happened before!"

"D'you think it's gonna happen again? The time skips?" I ask, already thinking of all the terrible ways it could screw up my plans in this fairy tale, I have to talk to this puppet master!

"I can only suppose so," Adele mutters, "but I am just as in the dark as you are."

I grimace as the King leaves and all the girls begin running around like headless chickens.

"You're going to have to give a speech about spiking the princes' wines," Adele informs me quickly.

"Me? Why?"

"You're supposed to be the oldest," she shrugs.

"Of course," I mutter. I glance around at all the blond frantic princesses, waving their arms, pulling their pigtails, and talking shrilly. There is no way I am going to get their attention easily.

"Ladies!" I call out loudly, walking towards the nearest bed. "Ladies!" I shout a little louder, climbing onto the bed. I frown, still no one is paying attention.

"GIRLS!" I shout, starting to get frustrated. "SHUT UP WILL YOU!"

That always works in movies, the whole shock factor, now of course the room is supposed to fall into shocked silence… any minute now.

It's not working.

I groan and take a seat on the bed, I can wait.

After a while I start to draw attention as the only calm, quiet person in the room and slowly, slowly, they start to quiet down. Thank goodness it took them long enough!

I raise an eyebrow, "Ready?" I ask the now quiet room. "Good then, you can all stop freaking out, because I have a plan." The noise threatens to start up again but I quickly stand up and insert, "If you want to hear it you will stay quiet," I feel like a kindergarten teacher.

"Now, it's really simple, all we have to do is drug the wine of whatever man comes to try and figure it out, he'll fall asleep and we won't even have to stop dancing at night, sound like a plan?" I look around with a smile, and the general mutterings seem to be in support. All according to plan.

"So where do we get the sleeping potion?" one of the middle girls pipes up.

I stare blankly.

"Where do we… what?"

"Where do we get the potion?" another girl repeats.

"Uhhh," I say oh so gracefully. "Is there some sort of castle alchemist?"

"Well, sure, if we want the whole castle to know what we're doing," an older girl responds.

I look to Adele hoping for some answers, she just shrugs her shoulders and mouths something that looks suspiciously like, "I can't find it."

This is definitely not in the plan! They never mentioned where they got the potion in the story! I'd always just figured they happened to have some sleeping potion on hand. Guess I was wrong!

"Does no one just have some sleeping potion lying around?" I say, franticly trying to think of a solution, or a recipe for the potion, but nothing comes to mind.

There is a general shaking of heads.

Great, really great, this is just my luck!

"Well, short of knocking him out with a good whack on the head, I've got nothing," I admit, falling back onto the bed.

"I kinda like that idea," I hear from somewhere in the crowd.

I frown and half-laugh, "I was just kidding," I shake my head.

"But it would work!" another pipes up.

"Yeah, but it's not exactly subtle! I think they might figure it out after the first night!" I insist. Am I the only one a little intimidated by how… bloodthirsty the princess puppets are? Honestly, though, I'm actually pretty impressed they are actually thinking this much! This is the closest thing I have had to a conversation with a puppet in here. Even if they are suggesting we just beat the princes over the head until they lose consciousness. Though as I start thinking about it, I realize… it might work. "I guess we could get him drunk with the wine first, and he might not even remember getting beat over the head the night before…"

"Yeah!" I hear, followed by a course of other encouraging noises. I bite my lip, trying to figure out how bad I would feel bludgeoning Donovan into unconsciousness. Well, actually, it wouldn't be into unconsciousness, since he would still have to be awake to follow us, and I don't think I would feel any guilt over a little bruise on the head. Well…

"Alright, so the new plan is we give the suitors wine until they are completely inebriated, and if we need to we will bludgeon them over the head. We'll try and limit the head breaking if we can," I announce this to the girls and they are all looking way too excited about this. Of course, I also probably fall into the group of way too excited. Can I help being remotely eager at the prospect of beating a couple guys over the head? It is completely understandable given current events and frustrations!

I climb off the bed, and wander over to Adele.

"Careful, you got some evil hanging on that smile of yours," Adele observes.

"What?" I smile innocently.

"Aren't you remotely worried about passing the fairy tale?" Adele pushes.

"Please, I chopped off my hair, knocked down the entire tower, and didn't shed a single tear in Rapunzel and the curse didn't care, I'm thinking that is pretty hard to beat."

Adele gives me a look that quite clearly says, 'What now?'

"Donovan's afraid of heights and the tower somehow managed to shake itself apart," I explain quickly. Adele's look hasn't changed.

"Don't worry about it, the point is if the curse wanted me to use a potion it should have either given it to me or not've made Lexi a toddler. Otherwise, I just have to get creative, and violence is a very easy alternative to creativity," I explain.

Adele just rolls her eyes, which I have come to recognize as her form of acceptance.

Good, now that that is taken care of-

I peer around the room at the ten other princesses then scan the room for some sort of corner to talk privately in. Just in case.

Of course, this being a perfectly round room there are not that many corners available so I decide on outside of the room.

"Come on," I mutter to Adele, grabbing her arm and pulling her over to the large double doors. She senses my shift to serious and follows quietly.


	27. Old Soldier

**Hello lovelies, sorry about the long wait again. I really have been writing a lot, just probably not what you care to read. Unless you have a secret fetish for comparative essays for English and World History... Didn't think so. But I finally have some time again. I will try to update much more often, promise! Especially now with winter break, and as a special present for the Holiday Season I shall try update every Saturday without fail!**

**Anyway, we still haven't reached the uh... bland parts yet, in fact, I am actually rather fond of this chapter, so have fun!  
**

Old Soldier

The large dark wooden doors are opened just enough for us to slip through into a well lit hallway lined with piles of wide pink curtained windows. I step off to the adjacent wall and turn to Adele. "Aright, now to more serious-"

The door suddenly creaks and a grainy sort of giggle sounds just before toddler Lexi steps out and toddles right up to us like some sort of evil green magnet. She of course walks right up to me and holds up her arms like she wants to be held. "Up!" she orders in her little baby voice.

Of. Bloody. Course.

"No Lexi, I am not going to hold you," I say firmly.

The little pixie screws up her face like she is about to break out in that awful screaming noise of hers.

"Fine, fine!" I amend quickly, picking up the surprisingly light little girl, bouncing her on my hip like I have seem other women do. Even as a toddler she is like an evil dictator, albeit an adorable evil dictator who can't talk, which is alright I suppose.

"Better not spit up or something," I mutter.

"Now!" I turn back to Adele who has this smug little smile. "Not a word," I warn her.

"Of course, what did you want to talk about?" she asks.

"Two things," I begin, shifting my grip on Lexi to a more comfortable position. "How does pain work in here?" I ask, my thoughts on the fiasco in the last fairy tale.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, like in Cinderella I felt muscle pains from the cleaning, but when I got the cut on my back in Little Red Riding Hood and practically broke my arm in the last one, I felt nothing. But Donovan screwed up his legs pretty bad in the brambles and he felt that," I explain.

Adele's eyebrows come together, "Oh my," she says biting her lip in thought. "He's alright, right?" she says distractedly.

"Sure, last I saw of him," I shrug. I should probably be pushing the sympathy factor for Donovan, after all I am still trying to match these two, and the more I can get her to worry about Donovan the more I know she cares, but I'm more interested in her answer at the moment.

"Well, I've never heard of a princess who doesn't feel pain, but then again, I'm pretty sure none of them were quite as… active as you," she says.

Well thank you. I'll take that as a compliment.

"But, I remember a prince who was doing something stupid and got his hand trod on by a horse, turned all purple and awful but he couldn't feel a thing," she mutters, and I have to strain to hear her.

"So it's like- Lexi, no!" I shout as the little git yanks my hair. "I'll drop you!" I warn, guess I never really got those maternal instincts.

"Elle," Adele scolds me, taking Lexi from me. Lexi sticks her tongue out at me and makes a face! So I stick my tongue out right back. "Elle!"

"What! Did you see that!" I protest.

"Stop acting so childish," she scolds like she's a mother.

"She started it," I mutter, crossing my arms moodily, not caring exactly how childish that makes me.

"And I'm ending it," Adele insists, "Now what were you saying before?" she switches back on topic.

"Fine," I mutter before trying to remember what I had been saying. "The pain- so, it seems almost like you only feel the pain that is in the story, and everything else is numbed out," I say, trying to fit exactly what I'm thinking into words. "Like, the curse would make me sore after cleaning, and Donovan was supposed to fall into the brambles so I guess that counts too, but if it's not in the story then maybe… the curse doesn't realize that it is supposed to hurt…" That is a bit of a scary thought. Not that there isn't any pain if I screw something up, but that the curse has that kind of control over us, it can make us feel pain or numb it out… weird. I reach back and feel my hair, reminded again of how much control this curse has. I'm pretty sure you have figured out by this point how much I dislike feeling helpless or not in control, so this is really an upsetting thing for me.

"So about this puppet master," I move onto the next topic trying to distract myself.

"Ah yes," Adele nods.

"Anything you know about him?" I prod.

"I have only heard that he exists," Adele admits slowly.

"Nothing you might just mention? Any dangerous personality disorders? Loony habits? I'm actually kind of scared that it's gonna be some sort of old guy with a penchant for turning pretty young girls into mindless puppet clones," I grin weakly.

"Elle, surely it's not as bad-"

"I'm just teasing," I assure her, "I'm sure he's just some sort of helpful old archetypal grandpa sort."

"I guess," Adele says slowly, "so am I to suppose that you are planning on going into the crystal forest alone."

"Well, I figure it's probably for the best, since we don't want to draw too much attention and since I am probably going to be the one doing whatever it is that is going to be done so you should probably just stick with-"

I stop as I am suddenly back inside the room and face to face with Donovan, my mouth still hanging half open, caught between words and looking oh so terribly intelligent.

"Donovan," I say before finally grasping what is going on and snapping my mouth closed so fast my teeth hurt.

I hate this curse. I don't think I can reiterate that enough.

I blink blankly, waiting for my brain to catch up with the time skip.

"Princess," he says with a flourish-y bow and a wry grin.

"Right, ummm, you are here to… find how we are dancing at night," I say shaking my head quickly to get rid of the last of the lag. "Of course," I say with a fake smile.

I quickly glance over my shoulder and sure enough there are the other girls, looking on eagerly to see how I will charm this suitor before we knock him over the head.

I turn back to Donovan and smile again, "I believe there should be an adjoining room around here," I say loudly, grabbing his arm and heading for the other end of the large room. We push through the throng of girls and as soon as we are clear he leans closer and mutters, "Some thing is very wrong."

"No kidding," I hiss back.

There, between a cradle and the smallest bed, a simple door. I open what was probably some sort of servant's quarters with only a bed under a high window and shut the door behind us.

"Talk fast, I'm not sure how much time we have before the next time skip," I warn, taking a seat on the bed. Donovan chooses to lean against the wall.

"Is that what has been going on?" he asks, blowing out through his lips. "The glitches just keep getting worse," he mutters.

I groan, "Is that what is doing all this!"

"I don't see what else it could be, Elle," he says seriously.

"Of course," I mumble, hiding my face in my hands.

"We'll have to ask this puppet guy when we go to see him," Donovan advises.

"You're not going," I mumble through my hands.

"What was that?" Donovan asks sharply.

"You're not going," I repeat louder this time, raising my face to look at him.

"No, I heard you the first time, I just didn't think you would be quite so stupid to suggest that," he glares at me.

I glare right back, "You are staying here with Adele," I insist.

"Have you already forgotten everything that went wrong in the last fairy tale?" he demands, motioning to my still short hair. "What happens when you climb another tower that starts to shake itself apart and I'm not there to save your ass?"

"No one asked you to do that," I shoot back, trying to keep from raising my voice. "I probably could have made it!"

He snorts, showing exactly how much he believes me.

If looks could kill Donovan would be stone cold dead at the moment.

"It happened once," I say venomously. Let him insult my hair, my intelligence, whatever he can think of, but as soon as he starts suggesting that I am some sort of damsel in distress who can't handle herself and needs some guy to help her along every step of the way… "I do not all of a sudden need you thinking that you are better than me and that I can't take care of myself. I am handling everything in this thrice cursed place, I think I can take care of my self," I say never raising my voice above a quiet malice.

We stare intensely at each other, neither of us blinking or breaking eye contact. It seems like an eternity but I refuse to be the one to look away. Finally, Donovan relents.

"Fine," he mutters, "I told you I wasn't saving you from anymore towers, and I won't. You're right, you don't need saving."

I nod. Suddenly feeling like even though I won that battle, I lost something bigger.

"Besides," I say, trying to bring the conversation back onto friendlier terms, "You and Adele will get the whole night together," I say, hoping to cheer him up some.

"Yeah, alright," he says cheering up somewhat. There we go, I knew he liked her.

"Anyway," I say, trying to make sure that we are prepared for tonight, it being a terribly important one and all, "You have your invisibility thing right?"

"Yup," he says patting a pocket of his large soldier issue, brown jacket.

"Oh," I grin, "and you had better be pretty good at acting drunk or I'm going to have to knock you over the head with a-"

I feel the strange sensation that accompanies a time skip, though neither of us move in or around the room.

I glance around. "That was weird," I mutter.

Suddenly there is a firm knocking on the door, "Hello in there!" a light princess-y voice calls. We are both on our feet in moments. "Mr Soldier, we have some wine for you!"

I curse under my breath. Drat that was quick.

"How well can you hold a drink?" I ask quickly. "Wait, underage, stupid question," I amend quickly.

Donovan gives me a look that lets me know I am being a bit too lenient in my assessment of him.

"Oh don't give me that look," he rolls his eyes, "It's not that bad. Besides, it's coming in useful here."

"No!" I punch his arm, "I refuse to condone your drunken self-destructive ways! I'll just have to think of something else!" I hiss. I fall back onto the bed and run my hands over my face, why do I always have to be the one to think of all the plans? I definitely think it is someone else's turn.

"I have never been drunk," he whispers as if I were silly for even thinking such a thing.

"Oh yeah you and your amazing self control," I shoot back.

He smiles a little, "Have I ever done anything that would suggest other-"

"Soldier!" the knocking comes again, more insistently.

"Hey," Donovan whispers, quickly turning to me, "Remember that line in the story that the eldest daughter says about the soldier being so tierd-"

"-they probably wouldn't have needed the potion anyway!" I finish, "Yes!" I say, quickly understanding what he is suggesting. "Under the sheets," I order, getting up off the bed and walking to the door. He gives me a suggestive sort of look, his grin practically saying for him "You know there are easier ways to get me in bed." I pointedly ignore him and turn away from him to make sure he gets the hint. I turn back to make sure Donovan is appropriately faking sleep before I open the door and peek out.

"Shhh," I whisper to the rather confused looking faces just outside.

"What are you-"

"He's asleep," I assure them, opening the door wider so they can see. "The silly soldier is so tiered we need never have worried about him, he sleeps like a log."

The girls all strain over each other to see.

"Are you sure?" a smaller one asks.

"Yeah, maybe we should hit him over the head just to make sure," another pipes up, brandishing what looks suspiciously like an old chair leg, wooden claw and all.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," I grin, taking the leg from the girl.

Oh don't get all uppity. I won't hit him that hard probably won't even leave a bruise! Besides, we need try and follow the story don't we?

I turn around just in time to catch the corners of Donovan's mouth tilt down, ever so slightly.

Suddenly the stick is gone and I am standing in the dark.

CURSES! Ruin all my fun!


	28. Into the Woods

**Hey guys! Boy did I have a tough time keeping my Saturday promise today. I JUST get back from an awesome trip to Chicago in some posh hotel where they manage not to have internet but even if they did I would have been way too busy to update. anyway enjoy, I REAALLY gotta get to bed!b**

Into the Woods

Before I can even cross my arms I am suddenly hit in the back and with a squeal I go down face first into dirt that I can't even see.

There are all sorts of assorted worried and indignant noises behind me, "Why'd you stop?" one of the princesses asks behind me. One comes up with a torch to shed light over the trail and me, and just as my eyes were adjusting!

"I- I-" I struggle to think of a reason, while I push up from the ground. "I am worried about that soldier I have a bad feeling is all, I want to go back and check on him," I say, squinting at the torch bearing princess.

"What!" the girls flutter, "Go back! But we are already down here!"

"No, no," I try to assure them quickly, "I'll just go alone, you guys can go ahead."

Some of the girls look reluctant but Adele steps up from somewhere, carrying her own torch, "Sounds fine to me," she says handing me the torch. I nod, trying to suppress a grin. I wave forward the girls in front of me, and they all file past. Adele and I exchange looks and she nods at me before hurrying off with the girls… clones, they're just clones, though some of the most interesting clones I have met yet. Whatever. I wave to their backs and grin as I start back up the slight incline.

"You really were going to hit me!" I hear an indignant whisper somewhere above my ear. I start, tumbling back away from the whisper and almost dropping the torch as I loose the battle against gravity.

"Grimm Donovan," I mutter, rubbing my butt as I get back off the ground for a second time in the last five minutes, "don't do that to me!"

Donovan suddenly appears in front of me holding a ratty old jacket that I can only suppose is the invisibility cloak. Even in the flickering and inconstant torchlight, I can see that he is not quite pleased with me.

"Aww, come on," I tease, "I have hit you much harder than I was going to."

He still looks unamused.

"Well, I didn't," I say rolling my eyes. "Here, since I didn't get to hit you with the chair leg-" I reach up to knock him playfully upside the head but he's too quick and grabs my arm. I'm not sure whether to be worried or not, but as I look hesitantly at his face I catch a grin in the corner of his mouth.

"You are just lucky it's hard to stay mad at you, Elle," he says, releasing my arm.

"Nonsense," I joke, ruffling his hair instead of hitting him, "I make it far too easy to stay angry at me, that way I know who my friends are by who tolerates me." I grin widely but he just rolls his eyes and shoves my head, mussing my hair in revenge.

"Hey, who's got the torch here?" I chide, moving to continue up the hill.

"Yeah, a torch," he snorts, "but obviously no eyes, you're only in the silver forest, you've still got the gold to go before you reach the crystal forest. Or haven't you noticed, produce head?"

I would have blushed furiously, but I don't think I am even capable of blushing. "I- I knew that," I mutter, "and I resent that, I will not suffer such an awful nickname," I say, eager to change the subject. "Especially since it was an accident," I declare, pushing past him to now walk down the path.

"An accident?" Donovan says hurrying up to walk next to me, "How do you accidentally chop off all your hair."

"Well, I wasn't expecting it to stay all short like this!" I say indignantly, "Besides, I had to do it because my supposed prince is afraid of heights!"

"Doesn't mean you don't look goofy," Donovan grins running his fingers through his own perfectly normal dark hair, just to emphasize the point.

I glare.

"Well, maybe it wouldn't look so bad if you hadn't been messing with it!" I shoot back, trying to flatten my hair with my hand not holding the torch.

"Stop it, your going to drop the torch," Donovan chides, "Besides, you're not gong to make it any better."

"Oh wow, and here I was expecting something along the lines of 'it looks fine I was just kidding' you sure you can't think of anything worse to say? Like, I might as well just torch my hair because it's all just beyond hope?" I say sarcastically.

"Fine, it looks fine and I was just kidding," Donovan says, not meaning a word of it.

"Thank you," I roll my eyes. "Come on," I say breaking into a trot, "we had better hurry up if you are going to catch up with them."

"Right," Donovan says following right behind.

Our quickened pace cuts off conversation through the gold forest but as we hit the crystal forest I am getting a little worried that we have not come across the others yet.

Donovan CANNOT come with me! Him spending the night dancing and talking to Adele is critical to my plan!

But as soon as we clear the forests my fears are put to rest, the princesses are just about to board their boats.

Thank Grimm!

"Quick," I order, "put the jacket on and go find Adele."

Donovan gives me one of those looks that for the life of me I just can't figure out, just before he disappears. I wave my arm through the space he was in, just to make sure he's gone and turn back to enter the crystal forest. But not before I gaze out at the lake and castle. The entire cavern really is enormous, so spacious I would even guess I was outside if not for the lack of moon. I glance almost longingly at the bright golden castle that the boats are about to set out for. It sure looks pretty, and I would bet anything the prince who I would have danced with is smoking hot.

No, but I have to be all _responsible_.

Curse it. I had better get to dance tomorrow night!

And no, I am not enjoying this curse, I am simply trying to find some silver lining by pining after the things I can't have. You know, that sort of thing. Especially since Donovan and Adele are going to be enjoying it.

Suddenly I am hit again by the stomach churning time warp feeling and the boats are gone, out of sight, and a faint music is leaking from the castle.

Curse it!

Now I have to hurry.

I spin on my heel, but the thoughts still persist in dominating my head as I trek back to the crystal forest. I barely even pause as I step from the path and into the rows and rows of sparkling crystal trees shining like diamonds in the torch light, and you know they probably are, diamonds that is. Bright reds and oranges shoot back and assault my eyes from every angle, but it really is beautiful. The trees help to throw the torch light even farther than it would normally go and I can see a strange sort of scene, like that of a forest frozen under some strange bed of ice. Bushes and flowers and even moss make for some beautiful but dangerous footing. It is even enough to distract me and make me think I am the lucky one for getting to see this, if only for a moment.

The sudden thought skims through my head that it would probably be the most unbelievably romantic place to dance with Anthony. I could almost see the dizzying colors dancing off of his blond curls, his smile shining as dazzlingly as any of the trees.

Curse it!

I'd been managing not to think about Anthony for the last two fairy tales at least! It just figures that he should wiggle his way back into my consciousness while I hike through one of the most beautiful places I can imagine.

I sigh and shake my head, narrowly avoiding walking right into a large tree trunk while I try to turn my thoughts to something else.

Oh I know what you're thinking, I bet at least one of you iggs has just had the terribly clever idea and you know what is going to happen next. You think that Donovan is going to suddenly pop up out of no where, having actually not followed Adele on the boat but having used his invisibility to follow me against my directions. And then I would just be so terribly grateful (instead of angry which is probably more likely) being in such a vulnerable state and all, and he would do something unexpectedly not to mention _uncharacteristically_ romantic that would make me forget all about Anthony and instead begin questioning all sorts of things.

I wonder if those branches are sharp enough to stab myself.

You read way too many sappy love stories! Get over it because it just isn't going to happen. And even if it did, which I'm not saying is remotely possible, I would NOT be swept off my feet, I would be angry at him for ruining my plan for him and Adele! I just became friends with the guy, barely. That would just be weird! He and Adele have a much better chance any way, could you imagine what a nerve wracking, ear ringing relationship that would be?

I need to stop.

I force my self to cool down and file through my plans again in my head.

Plan to escape- walk through this forest for who knows how long until I find this puppet master fellow. I am struck by the image of some sort of crazed Geppetto. Well, anyway, that's about as far as that plan extends.

Next I move onto my match making endeavors. I have decided that when I get back, if Jaz and Anthony haven't already paired up I will pull together with Donovan and organize some sort of plot to prod them towards each other. That'll probably be fun, if secretly painful, but who cares? I'm sure Jaz and him will be happy. Knowing Donovan and myself, we will probably orchestrate some sort of large and complex scheme and then sneak along to make sure it doesn't fall apart right away. Hopefully fun enough to combat any feelings of my heart being torn to shreds!

I chuckle to myself.

By that point Donovan and Adele will of course have already realized their feelings for each other and smooch their way out of this curse. I will of course have whatever way to get out I that I'll get from the puppet master. Their dance tonight should do wonders for my scheme. If they are not at least holding hands or making googly eyes at each other by the I get back I will consider my self an absolute failure and proceed to blame Donovan, but I can already tell that there is definitely something there so I'm not afraid.

And to finish it all off I will burn that thrice cursed book into a pile of ashes, then I will burn those again, mix them into a block or cement and throw them into the sea! Sounds like a darned good plan to me!

And then every one will live happily ever after! This is great training!

I know I still won't have gotten a boyfriend out of it, but there are plenty more important things, of course. Not everyone can have their happily ever after all clean cut and catered to by me. I'll just have to wait for the right guy to come along and take matters into my own hands. Because if there's one thing I have learned here it's that I'm the only one who seems to be able to get anything done. In the mean time I will just sit back and enjoy the drama all my friends have going. I'm sure it will be hilariously ridiculous.

My thoughts stay along this loop as I weave through crystal trees and bushes, so it barely registers that the trees are becoming shorter and more sparse and loosing their bright sparkling gleam to become darker and more opaque, like bad diamonds. It is not until the trees disappear completely and I meet a looming new structure that I really start to come back to reality.

It's another tower.

Drat, and here I'd already told Donovan that I wouldn't be going in anymore towers. Not to mention this one is all bent and curving, just like you'd expect some sort of Merlin like magician to live in. There doesn't seem to be much beyond it, just some foreboding looking black mist, so I suppose this must be it, I found the puppet master.


	29. The Puppet Master

**Yes I know I missed updating Saturday, I know. But I have a VERY good reason. My computer had caught a virus recently, so after a lot of messing with anti-virus stuff, it DIED Friday. You know, not starting up, freezing, shutting down randomly, blue screens of death galore, fatal errors... yeah, not fun. So I have to completely reload everything and if you've never done it before it's a PAIN. Anyway, I get is all done and I am just letting windows up date all the crap it likes, and it crashes AGAIN! So I am ready to either kill my computer or whatever virus making bum I can get my hands on... but I persevere and load EVERYTHING on again, get all the firewalls and Mcafee crap I can and after and entire day of THAT, I can't stand to be within three feet of any computers for the next few days... yeah.`**

The Puppet Master

I bite my lip and take a deep breath before walking resolutely up to the tower. I knock on the rickety old wood door. So far so good.

But when I hear nothing from inside for several minutes I knock again, more firmly this time. And of course, just like in some cliched horror movie the door creaks open on its own, opening up into an old dusty sort of darkness. Of course in a place completely ruled by cliches I am not sure if I should take this as a bad omen or not. I have the fleeting thought that maybe I should have brought Donovan along, but I quickly banish that thought. At the moment that chair leg would be much more comforting to be holding- not that I would be holding Donovan! I simply meant- you know what I mean stop giving me that look! Goodness, the way you Iggs keep getting more persistent you would think I was giving you mixed signals or something. I hate to disappoint you but friendship is not interchangeable with a marriage proposal! So stop interpreting it that way!

Regardless, I hesitantly inch into the dimly lit, stooping stone tower to find a twisting wooden stair case in a sad state of disrepair. An ancient chandelier, some how still burning stubby little candles, is stuttering dully, suspended far above my head.

"Hello," I call, echoing up the tower and doing nothing to break the suspenseful horror theme.

Well, I had better start climbing the staircase. Whatever you need to find is always at the top of the staircase. Why else would there be a tower if not for the top? That must have been the absolute basics of Magical Architecture and Surroundings sophomore year!

So I start up the unending orchestra of creaking, cracking, and wheezing stairs. A rather unnerving trek especially because I have already had one tower collapse on me and I am not eager to try another.

By the time I am on level with the chandelier my quads are killing me and I take a quick break before I push on, trying to use some other muscle in the climb. I take two more short breaks and am about to start tearing down the tower myself if it is much longer when the frustrating climb finally ends and I am allowed to collapse on the landing, breathing heavily.

"What could possibly be the point of that ridiculously long climb?" I mutter to my self, thoroughly annoyed.

"It's supposed to keep people from just wandering up here."

My heart stops for a moment.

"Who-" I spin fearfully towards the new voice, wondering how exactly I managed to completely miss seeing them. I find myself staring at the most brilliant pair of green eyes I have ever seen, hidden shyly behind a mop of dusty brown hair.

"Who in the two worlds are you!" I practically shout before I can stop myself.

My mouth snaps shut, and I quickly make an effort to quiet down.

"You were looking for the puppet master weren't you?" the young man tilts his head to the side.

"Well, yeah," I say, struggling up and almost managing to fall back down the stairs in the process, "but I was not expecting a secretary-" I shut my mouth again realizing that was probably the stupidest thing I could have said, "or- or- apprentice I suppose is it?" I say trying to fix my mistake or at least not make it sound as rude as it had.

"No I-" he tries to help but I just seem determined to make a fool of myself.

"Your right, why would a puppet master in an ageless curse need some sort of apprentice? That's silly. But I mean the only other thing I can think of is that you are a puppet or something but you do not look at all like any of the other puppets around here. All the guys have been either ugly or stronger looking but you're kinda scrawny I suppose-" I slap my hands over my face. "I am so sorry," I mumble through my hands, "I just keep messing up don't I?" I giggle nervously, some how still managing to talk through my hands. I REALLY need to shut up now.

The man laughs nervously, "No I uhh- I'm actually the puppet master."

I stare blankly.

"Great," I mutter, realizing what is going on. This must be a decoy or something! "Right," I sigh, sagging with failure, "Of course you are, because that completely makes sense, what with you being, what? Three? Four years older than me? And of course the boggety old puppet master who lives in a crooked old tower can only be some sort of bookishly cute guy, THAT makes sense," I groan, and swing around to stomp back down the stairs.

"What?" the fake puppet master cries in confusion. Doesn't know what to do when someone figures him out I suppose, not programmed for that, stupid clone. "No, no you can't go!"

"Pretty sure you can't stop me," I say, continuing right down. Down is much easier than up. The guy rushes down the stairs after me, I really am starting to hate the persistence of these clones; I speed up.

"No! You are the only princess to reach here! You know what's going on, you have to help me!" I hesitate a moment. This all seems a bit… creative for a clone. Could be a special clone I suppose.

"Please!" he says, catching my arm before I can keep going.

I look pointedly down at his hand holding my wrist,"You know I am a trained fighter right?" I say menacingly.

He just looks at me pleadingly with those big green eyes of his. I sigh.

"Alright," I say slowly, "you get one chance, you've gotta prove to me some how that you are not a clone."

"How am I supposed to-"

"I don't know, you're the puppet master!" I say touchily. Truth is I have no idea at all how I am supposed to know. "Do something undoubtedly human," I wave my free hand in some awkward motion that apparently illustrates human.

"I need you to burn the book," he tries.

"Well, I mean, I guess that wouldn't be in the interests of most clones but that's not particularly-"

"I know that you probably hate even the word Goose by this point, that you can't cook to save your life, I know that you refuse to cry, even when you are alone, that you are very protective of your friends, that you can't figure out when it is you started tolerating your prince, and I know that you still secretly wish for that Anthony fellow to sweep in and save you."

I stare blankly. The weight of everything he has just said slowly sinking in, and what it means he is and can do…

"You stopped breathing, is that a bad thing?" the apparent puppet master asks nervously. Aww, Grimm he really is the puppet master! And I- to him- and- Dear Grimm he must think I am the biggest troll to ever walk the earth!

"I am SO sorry!" I spout suddenly, though I know perfectly well that there is no repairing the damage. "I- I- I didn't mean it, I mean, I just wanted to, I had to make sure and all-"

"No, you had every right to be suspicious," he says generously.

I feel like I should say something more, but finally, a little late, I can't speak.

We stare at each other in awkward silence until the puppet master speaks again, "Would- would you like to come in? I suppose we have a lot of things to discuss."

I nod silently and follow him back up the stairs, my stupidity still weighing heavily on my chest. I follow him through an appropriately creaky old door to a room absolutely bursting with book shelves and desks lined with books and strangely shaped objets. Books rest on everything from shelves to chairs scattered about the wide yet cramped room, even standing in uncertain towers about the bed stuffed in the far corner. Shiny, glass, metal, and other various materials are twisted and formed into every conceivable trinket and buried under scraps and papers. It looks exactly like a tower belonging to some sort of crazy puppet master is supposed to look like, all except for the actual puppet master. I suppose he is sort of dressed for the part in a dark blue robe thing, but he's still missing a hat, a beard, some crazy glasses, and about a hundred extra years.

"What's your name?" I burst out, feeling bad for thinking of him only at the puppet master.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he says with a pleasant smile, "I'm Albiert." He lifts a book off of a chair in the center of the room and takes a seat in front of a huge multicolored crystal ball.

"Alright then, Albeirt," I nod, looking for my own place to sit. I end up leaning against a bookshelf.

We stare at each other in silence.

I start to get the feeling that Albeirt was kind of expecting me to know what to ask or start with, after all, I always the one with the plans aren't I just?

I sigh, but oblige him none the less. "Well, I have some questions, but the first thing I want to know is how exactly you knew all that stuff," I demand, of course meaning all of those particularly personal observations.

"Oh," he says, seeming startled by the question, "I have a magic ball," he says patting the enormous orb beside him as if that explains everything.

"How's it work?" I ask curiously, coming over to peer into the thing. It's not particularly remarkable for all that it is almost half as big as I am. It just looks like an oversized bubble, kind of colorful on the outside and delicate. Not even some mysterious mist floating about the center.

Albeirt taps the ball twice with his knuckle. That's it, not even a magic word, as a realizer with an appreciation for presentation it's rater disappointing, but suddenly I see a few dozen tiny little people dancing in the orb as if it is some sort of bewitched doll house. There isn't a floor or any sort of setting, just the little puppets floating about the middle.

"There they are," Albeirt says almost boredly. Why he's bored I couldn't tell you, this is amazing!

"So, the clones," I ask, watching one of the puppets take a drink from a cup I can't see, "do you make them?"

"Yeah, I make them, I control them, but most of the time I only bother when they can't handle themselves," he looks at me with a lightly accusing face, "I think you have set some sort of record for the number of times I have had to step in and keep the clone from overloading."

I grin up, "So how much control do you have? Like, could you make one do a backflip right now?"

"Sure," he shrugs. He reaches into the bubble and taps one of the prince clones on the head. Without even hesitating the clone does three backflips and lands perfectly.

I giggle and clap. Simple? Maybe. But oh so funny.

"How about the chicken dance?" I dare.

Albeirt grins and taps one of the princesses this time. She instantly starts flapping her arms and shaking her butt. I laugh again and Albeirt even laughs a little too.

The sight reminds me of another question, "Alright mister Puppet Master, I have another question for you," I say, continuing to examine the bubble ball. "How come all the princesses in this fairy tale are so…" I trail off trying to think of a better word than blood thirsty.

"Real?" Albeirt supplies.

"Sure," I shrug.

I don't even need to look at him to hear the grin in his voice, "They are based off of some of the most, ahem, interesting princesses that have passed through."

I look up momentarily, "Am I going to get one?" I grin demonically.

"Well, hopefully the curse won't exist once you are out."

"Oh right." That thing that I am supposed to deal with. I glance back down at the bubble.

"Oh look!" I spout abruptly, "there's Adele!" I point and move quickly around to the other side of the bubble to get a closer look. "Can you like zoom in or something?" I ask, peering at the bubble.

Albeirt nods and taps the bubble again and most of the dancing couples disappear as the remaining few and Adele take up the rest of the bubble. I smile when I see that she is talking to Donovan, now uncloaked, but there is no dancing going on.

"Why aren't they dancing!" I demand, frustrated.

"Adele doesn't like dancing," Albeirt responds, "she's probably worried that she'll mess up and embarrass herself."

"Embarrass herself in front of who?" I mutter, frowning. I pause and look up at Albeirt. Why would he know that when Adele couldn't even tell me what the puppet master looked like? Astute little guy, wait…

Albeirt has this look on his face as he stares at the little Adele representation, exactly the look that I keep trying to get Donovan to look at her with. But in a moment it's gone and I am wondering if I just imagined it.

"It's really not that hard to use," Albeirt says suddenly, tapping the ball again and it turns off, leaving the center empty again.

"Oh, of course," I mutter, realizing that I have gotten off topic and distracted. There are more important things to worry about at the moment.


	30. To Catch a Glitch

**'allo! Uhh, not much to say today. I should probably focus on the big World Paper I have to write... but just to warn you, I kind of felt like all the information in this and the following chapters started to get a little dry, or at least when compared to the rest of... Elle-ness. Hope it doesn't get too bad**

To Catch a Glitch

"Alright, down to business," I nod, taking a seat on a pile of books across from Albeirt. "So it would seem obvious that we share a common goal, get out of the curse and burn the book," Albeirt nods in response. "So- I suppose we should compare plans?"

Albeirt gives me a look that clearly says he didn't have a plan of his own.

"Alright they we'll just be altering mine with your knowledge," I sigh.

Albeirt gives a small smile and he just so resembles a cute little puppy I can't stay frustrated.

I am pretty sure that you guys have heard my "plan" enough times that if I describe it one more time you are likely to groan and start bemoaning people who are too attached to organization and plans.

So I describe how Falada told me I should shock myself out of the curse…

Wow, now that the whole find the puppet master part of that plan is complete I realize how short and incomplete it seems.

However, I am barely through the word 'shock' when Albeirt starts shaking his head vigorously. It might've been kind of funny or adorable the way he was shaking his mop of hair so violently if not for the meaning behind the shaking, namely that he is blowing my entire plan right out of the water.

"Well, what?" I say touchily.

"Falada got it wrong," Albeirt says, ceasing his head shaking, "It won't shock you out of the curse, it'll automatically fail you, you'll become a villain right off."

"What could possibly be so bad?" I snort skeptically.

"Well, various forms of denying your prince, but mostly only if you try to kill him. In Beauty and the Beast if you allow your prince to die instead of agreeing to marry him, for example," I frown. Guess it's a good thing I didn't get to hit Donovan over the head.

"That's pretty extreme don't you think?" I cringe. I try to imagine actually killing Donovan, I mean I know I like to joke about it, but I don't think I could ever really-

"Well, for an evil kidnapping device, the curse is relatively forgiving, he shrugs.

"Right," I mutter, "well then how am I supposed to get out!"

Albeirt stares at me blankly.

"You're supposed to be the one with all the answers!" I accuse, running my hands through my hair. "Alright, alright," I mutter, standing up, "I just have to think of a way around this." I start pacing around the room, glaring at book titles and odd trinkets as if they might have the answer written on them if I just look hard enough.

I move to a window at the end of the room, an odd sort of thing to have when all it is looking out at is misty darkness, but I stare out it nonetheless, still looking for an answer.

I sigh and wrack my memory for something that someone has said that will just solve this problem… what can I do? What can I do? What do I have? What's different about me being in the curse than anyone else?

Well, I'm a realizer. I'm me.

That's gotta count for something…

I- I- I screwed up casting it… I screwed up casting it!

I try and recall everything Donovan had told me about glitches. "They are like, sabotaging the curse," I repeat. "And the visits to the real world," I say a little louder, "they're not normal either. I suppose that the curse doesn't have as strong a grip on me as it's supposed to," I turn to Albeirt, "What do you know about glitches?"

Albeirt glares at me, "Only that you must have brought along with you more of them than I have ever seen!" he accuses.

He stands and taps his bubble again. Suddenly it is full of wispy little black clouds, hopping around with movements similar to that of a frog.

"These are the few that I managed to capture and keep from absolutely destroying the place, but the protections and walls just keep getting more holes I can barely keep up with it!" Albeirt says, frowning at the bubble.

I approach it curiously and lean down to examine it. I start back, a grimy little face suddenly presses itself against the glass, all pointy angles, sharp teeth, and beady little eyes. It is gone just as suddenly as it appeared but it leaves me still trying to settle my heart beat back down to normal.

"That's a glitch?" I look to Albeirt for confirmation and he nods. I peer back into the depths of the blackened bubble, looking for the face again, "So these are the little buggers that have been making my life miserable," I mutter, making out some faint shapes in the mist.

"How do you get rid of them?" I ask.

"I don't, not until you're out of the curse at least."

"Well then how do you capture them?" I press. I wonder if I could do it too? Wouldn't _that _make my job that much easier.

"Why?" he asks, obviously not able read my thoughts!

"You have no idea how much I would like to get rid of some of these time skipping glitches and the ones that are making towers collapse on me," I tell him.

"You want to capture them?" he invites me, waving towards the window, "most of them are right outside this tower, they're hiding in the mist."

I grin, eager to get my hands on the awful little buggers, "Well, then come on!" I motion for him to follow me out the door.

"What! Are you kidding?" he says incredulously, grasping his chair as if I might pull him out of it, "they are nasty little things!"

"Exactly!" I agree, "And I would much rather they were stuffed in your little bubble than running around the curse!" I rush out the door before he can protest.

I catch a sigh from him but he comes along anyway, good-natured guy that he is. I like him, even if he probably thinks I am raving mad. I think we will be friends, or I will keep insisting that we are until it is true!

I rush down the stairs, eager to bag me some glitches. "You know there is a much easier way," Albeirt calls down after me. Suddenly the stairs disappear from beneath me and I loose my footing on the suddenly slippery surface. My attempts to stay upright only lead to me falling painfully on my butt, but the pain is soon forgotten in the rush of sliding down the biggest slide I have ever ridden in my life! I shout and try to keep from bumping too badly into the wall. Finally, tumble off onto the floor, dizzy and unable to stand, but smiling all the same.

"I wanna do that again!" I giggle.

Albeirt tumbles down after me, actually right INTO me and I sprawl even more out on the floor with nothing but an 'oof' in protest.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm not used to someone else being at the bottom," Albeirt says quickly struggling up. He offers me a hand up, but he doesn't look any more stable than I am so I push it away and get up myself.

"Just warn me next time," I ask, spreading my arms a little before my balance comes back all the way. I peer up at all of the stairs we just slid down which have managed to turn themselves back into actual stairs by this point. "Pretty useful trick though. So how do you get back up?" I grin.

"You'll see," he promises.

I roll my eyes and just head for the door, eager to get my hands on some of those glitches and take some sweet, sweet revenge. I throw the creaky door fearlessly open this time and march out towards the dark mist, Albeirt in tow.

"So where are they?" I glare expectantly out at the mist, hands on my hips, just waiting for something to happen.

"Just wait a moment for them to notice you," Albeirt directs, staring far less eagerly at the mist than I, "They'll notice you. You're pretty hard to miss," he adds.

I glance at him, not quite sure if he means that as good thing or not, but sure enough the glitches pop up before I can say anything. I'm not sure how I notice them, seeing as I am effectively surrounded by dusty blackness. The only thing I can relate them to is like catching fireflies. You can catch little hints of them while they light up and move, but while they are dark you just have to guess where they will be next until you are close enough to grab them.

"So by the wispy tail thing, right?" I ask, making sure, already keeping my eye on the general area of my target.

"What?" Albeirt asks, obviously not quite clear.

"What we grab them by," I elaborate, "the tail thing," that would seem the best, even only thing to grab them by, since all that's left is their head and a varying amount of limbs that look suspiciously claw like. They are kind of like tadpoles. Evil mutant tadpoles.

"Yeah, the tail," Albeirt nods, keeping his distance as I sneak towards the glitches. Why I am sneaking I am not sure, since the glitches can certainly see me, but why do you sneak when catching fireflies? That's just the way it's done!

"Aren't you going to catch them with me?" I ask, locking eyes, or what I suppose are eyes, with one of the smaller glitches with only two arms.

"Did you not hear what I said about them being-"

I leap and flail towards the glitch grabbing it as best I can, fortunately it feels surprisingly solid. I would have felt really stupid if it had just slipped through my fingers.

The thing screams with a breaking glass sort of sound and shakes furiously like a fish that's been hooked, "Oh no you don't!" I shout, wrenching it back and giving it a good shaking of it's own. "This is for collapsing the Rapunzel tower on me!"

The glitch shrieks and starts to bend in a way that is definitely not natural. The thing comes at me with sharp little claws and teeth, scratching at my hand and almost shocking me out of my grip. I release one hand, trying to shake the sudden pain out while struggling to keep hold, "Curse you stupid little-" Albeirt chuckles from somewhere behind me.

"Shut up," I shoot back towards him while smacking the awful little creature over the head with my free fist, "And that is for making me repeat Little Red Ridinghood for no reason!" The glitch goes relatively limp, sort of like a flag blowing in some sort of nonexistent wind.

"There," I nod, presenting the glitch to Albeirt with a smile like a cat who has proudly brought home some sort of small dead animal.

Albeirt breaks out in uncontrollable laughter, doubled over and unable to look at me. I frown, what? What did I do? I did exactly what I said we were going to do.

"I have never actually seen someone do that before!" he manages out.

My frown deepens, "Well, don't you catch them the same way?" I ask, confused.

"No!" he spouts. "I always snagged them with magic!"

I glare at him, "Then why did you let me just do that!" I accuse, throwing my hands up, waving the unconscious glitch.

"I was curious what you were going to do," he answers simply, with a smile.

"Well, that was it, I shake them until they stop fighting," I toss the glitch at his feet. "It is actually wonderful stress relief, I will have you know, so if you will excuse me," I turn on me heel and spot a new glitch to chase, "I say that one is the one who stole the king in Goose Girl."

"Actually, that wasn't the glitchs' fault," Albeirt says, matter of factly, I spin back towards him, and tilt my head with a blank stare.

"It what?"

"The glitches didn't steal the king, actually I accidentally lost track of him and he just wandered out one of those holes in the curse that I was talking about. I really should have kept better tabs on him, those puppets are always wandering blankly around and getting into things they really shouldn't, but I think you really did a great job handling that, especially saving Adele at the end-" but I had stopped listening a while ago. My mind was working furiously, sprung back on track by this sudden new information. I suddenly felt bad for getting sidetracked with the glitches, but this was important! If a puppet could wander out on his own, what was to stop me? The curse supposedly already had a very loose hold on me. Curses! I wish I knew more about how things like this work! Maybe if I could talk to the weird professor again? But there is no way of that happening right now, so hopefully Albeirt would know enough-

"Albeirt," I say seriously, walking back up to him, "describe these holes."

"What about them?" he shrugs.

"Do you think I could sneak out of one?" I press hopefully.

"No, don't be silly they are much too small-"

"But," I interrupt, "you were saying they were like…"

"They're getting bigger," Albeirt mutters, seeing where I'm going.

I nod encouragingly, "Yeah! So maybe I can sneak out!"

"I- I don't know," he says carefully. "The puppet was able to escape because really all he is, is a bit of information expanded into a human form. The holes are not physical holes per say, they are gaps in the creation and writing of the curse that, for lack of a better way to put it, are letting small bits of commands and information slip out or get lost into the real world, where they disappear. You though, you are so complex, I don't know if you could…"

I pause trying to process all of that. That whole spiel was pretty dense.

"So… are you 'information'?"

"No, I am alive and real just like you or Donovan or Adele."

"Well then how is just words holding us? Where ARE we? How is all this?" I growl, severely confused. Magic has never been my strong suit, and I am sure this stuff is way over my head, but I struggle to grasp some sort of understanding of this, just none of it makes sense!

Albeirt senses my difficulty, "Why don't we go back inside and I will try to explain this?"

"Alright," I mutter, stooping down to pick up the glitch I had caught, but it is gone. I curse furiously and turn back to glare at the other glitches still floating around in the darkness and watching us.

"I'll be back for you," I warn them before jogging off to catch back up with Albeirt.


	31. Further Plans

**A nice long confusing chapter for you all! Aaannnd we finally get away from Albeirt. Thank goodness because that boy can just talk and talk and talk and... Anyway, smushed in a few explainations to this chapter for you, hope it helps some.**

Further Plans

He is standing in front of the door to the tower, "You are going to like this," he says cryptically.

"As long as I don't have to climb anymore stairs," I mutter, my mind still elsewhere, trying to wrap around the idea of this curse.

"Lets just go to the other side," Albeirt suggests, following the round edge of the tower around to the other side.

"Why?" I ask, "Did I miss some sort of elevator?"

"Better," he assures me.

"What could be better than not having to-"

"Elle, turn around," he directs me. I do and great Grimm is he right! Instead of a tower the tower seems to have suddenly turned into a sugary ginger bread and candy house like the witch from Hansel and Gretal. I swing around to look at my surroundings again, maybe the tower just hopped away? But I am in for another shock. The entire world seems to have flip flopped with the tower, where since I had walked to the back of the tower the black mist should have been behind me and the crystal forest behind the house they are switched so that the house is facing the same way the tower did.

"How did you do that?" I turn to Albeirt in shock.

"Do what?" he says with a clever little smile on his face.

"You know what? I don't even want to know," I shake my head. "All I really want to know is can you eat it or does it taste like everything else in this stupid curse," I say with a grin, eyeing up the chocolate shingles.

"Yes, and no, you can eat them and they taste fine, though I can assure you it will not taste like you expect," I grin and break off an enormous gumdrop decorating the side of the house.

"My kind of house Mr Willy Wonka," I grin.

"Let's go in," Albeirt says holding open the finely iced gingerbread door.

"Right, down to business," I nod seriously, ruining the effect with the giant green gumdrop that I bring in with me. I am surprised to find the room almost exactly how we left it, and stand stupidly in the doorway until Albeirt has to push me gently aside to get past.

"Sorry," I mutter, returning to my seat near the orb, fully expecting a candy cane to just spontaneously pop out of the wall.

"Alright, so what were we doing," I say taking a bite from my gummy. Albeirt suddenly breaks out laughing as what I can only suppose is the funniest face he has ever seen in his life crosses my features. What I had expected to taste like a standard issue gum drop, feels just like a gum drop in my mouth but tastes like bacon.

Fine, but beyond surprising.

"You knew that was going to happen!" I accuse, swallowing hard, "but let me guess, you wanted to see what I would do," I say with a wry look.

"Can you blame me?" Albeirt says almost doubled over with laughter, "I hardly get anything to laugh at and that was the funniest look I think I have ever seen!"

I look at the gum drop suspiciously now.

"What did it taste like?" he asks, still chuckling.

"Bacon," I offer him a bite, but he waves it away.

"I lost my memory of taste a while ago," he explains, "which is why the gumdrop will probably never taste like a gumdrop. My magic just supplements some sort of taste.

"You can't remember what anything tastes like," I repeat in shock, "That has to be the saddest thing I have heard yet!" I exclaim, "I would never survive." I say, taking another bite of the gumdrop, which to my surprise now tastes like peanut butter with this bite.

"Wait, we're off track, back to you explaining," I demand, trying to remember exactly where I was lost, fortunately Albeirt picks right back up, like he was just waiting, like he lives for this kind of explaining. Maybe he should be a teacher, a teacher of very complex and painful to understand magic. Of course he would have to be good at explaining it in order to be a teacher, so I guess I will reserve my judgement of his professor-y-ness until I understand.

Right, I'm supposed to be paying attention now...

"Alright," Albeirt starts slowly, "If you will remember, I was expressing doubts that you would fit through the holes because unlike the puppets you are huge and complex and very dense."

"Yeah, but I've been visiting the real world during the time in between!" I protest.

"I know," he mutters, biting his lip. He stares past me, still muttering, but I get the feeling it is more for his own benefit rather then mine. "I suppose it means that the curse already has a very loose grip on you, or that the holes are already big enough for you to at least see out of in a way-" he continues on like that for a while but I just stopped understanding after that and really just stopped listening. I pick up a book from the floor and thumb through the pages. I have decided Albeirt would not make a good teacher by this point, so I am skimming through the pages to see if I can glean anything from there. Unfortunately the book seems to be a manual on some topic that I can't figure out, I am only sure that it is immensely dull, dry, and technical. So much so that I am surprised it doesn't just turn to dust in my hands. Meanwhile my gumdrop continues shrinking as I eat it, leaving me empty handed and still rather hungry.

"I think that's it!" Albeirt declares suddenly.

"Finally!" I exclaim, gratefully tossing the book aside and looking expectantly at him for an explanation.

"So I think what is happening is that you are held so loosely by the curse that when you leave the setting of each individual fairy tale you are able to glimpse parts of the real world."

"Alright," I nod, "So far I follow."

"The setting is solid enough to hold you, but the actual fabric of the curse really can't, so your best shot to escape would be to first escape from the fairytale setting."

"Well, if the holes are getting bigger might it just let me go on it's own?" I ask, not quite sure if it's a valid question but willing to try anyway.

"Well, that's only part of it," Albeirt shakes his head. "It is important that the holes are big enough, so you would probably have several more fairy tales for them to expand before you can set the plan in motion, but I also think there is a sort of mental connection to the curse that I would not suggest leaving with."

"Like, I might accidentally leave my brain behind?"

"Well, more of your consciousness, but sure."

I shudder, "So the goal so far is to escape the curse once the holes are big enough, but not before I snap the mental connection to the curse," I condense and simplify.

"Yes."

I wave my hands at the air around my head, "So how do I break it?"

"Well that's the dangerous part," Albeirt says apologetically, almost like he's worried I'll blame him for it being dangerous.

"Of course," I grin, "If it's not dangerous it's not worth doing," I joke.

"Well, what I believe you would have to do is you actually would shock the curse into instantly failing you, that is probably the most direct way to the control center of the curse."

"I thought we had agreed we weren't going to be shocking the curse," I say hesitantly.

"As far as I can tell that's the only way to get the curse to release it's mental hold on you, if you can get to the center of the curse and figure out what's holding you, you'll be free." I nod slowly.

"So how do I break it?" I ask.

"I really don't know," he sighs heavily, "that's the main problem with this whole thing!"

"Well, do you know what this curse HQ looks like?" I inquire.

Albeirt just shakes his head sadly.

"Well that's okay!" I assure him, more cheerful than I actually feel, but he just looks so upset right now that he can't answer my questions I just have to try and cheer him up. "I'm sure I can just figure it out when I get there."

"There's one more thing I have to mention," Albeirt says quietly, I have to strain to even hear him.

"Well, spit it out," I say, by this point it pretty much can't get worse.

"There's a limit."

"On what?" I swear, it's like pulling teeth.

"The stories, once you reach you 12th fairy tale you either get out or you fail and are trapped."

My head falls heavily into my hands. Great, just what I need. "Wait," I pause, "If we have to wait for the holes to get as big as possible why don't we just wait for the curse to fail me that way, get in every last second?"

Albeirt shakes his head, "Because the curse will reset the second you finish and it will be able to get a full hold on you, it will fix all it's holes and all the opportunities will be lost!"

"And it isn't doing this if I shock fail?"

"Not until the curse can fully register it, you are shocking it after all," Albeirt explains.

"Alright then, fail at the last minute," I affirm. Suddenly I have another thought, "Wait, what happens to Donovan when I fail?"

Albeirt shrugs, "Same thing that happens to all the princes, they get sent back to the real world."

"What! I'd be trapped here for eternity and he just gets off like it never happened?!" I shout indignantly.

"The curse normally just figures it's not the Prince's fault," Albeirt says calmly.

"Stupid sexist curse," I mutter.

"Well, actually," Albeirt inserts, I almost groan, "there have been princes instead of princesses sometimes."

I sigh loudly and lean back in the chair, letting my neck just loll. I am exhausted just thinking about this! My arms hang limply at my side and I make absolutely no effort to move.

"If I may ask," I say, still draped over the chair and not even moving my eyes from a stain on the ceiling while I talk. "Beyond the fact that I can't kiss Donovan, what exactly is keeping me from just getting out of this curse and burning the book once I do it?"

"No! No, you can't!" Albeirt sounds absolutely terrified I roll my head a little so I can see some of him.

"Why not? Might that just be easier?"

"For the same reason that you can't just walk out the holes in the curse! It would release all the living creatures in here but trap their minds! Destroy them with it!"

I think distantly of that awful GM in Cinderella but quickly realize that would include Adele and Albeirt as well.

"So I am destroying the curse's connections with all the people now?" I groan, "Might have mentioned that part too."

"Yes, well…" he trails off.

"Alright, well, let's focus on parts that we do know something about, what is the last fairy tale and how can I fail it?"

"Well, the curse normally chooses the fairytales based on what it thinks the Princess will respond the best to, so it's kind of random-"

I groan loudly and am completely ready to start beating my head with the ridiculously boring manual, but Albeirt continues with some more encouraging information. "The last fairy tale, however, is the curse's last attempt, so it is predictably the princess' favorite fairy tale."

I break out laughing at the irony of it all! The final fairy tale that is supposed to make me fall in love with my "True Love" is a fairy tale where I wouldn't even get the guy!

Albeirt looks at me strangely, "What's so funny?" he asks in confusion.

"My favorite fairy tale!" I manage out between laughing, "it's so perfect!…The Little Mermaid!"

Albeirt frowns, obviously not finding this anywhere near as funny as I am. "Well, I suppose that makes it easier doesn't it," he mutters.

"It's so ironic!" I insist. Honestly, how does he not see the humor in this! I settle down some. "Alright," I let out my last chuckle, "so what's the plan? I just stab Donovan and fail right out? The opportunity is written right into the story!"

"Unless you care to really stab him, I wouldn't say it's quite that simple."

"Well,…" I say teasingly, pretending to consider the option.

"Elle!"

"I'm just kidding!" I laugh, holding up my hands assuringly. He shakes his head. Goodness, him and Adele, just alike, no sense of humor.

"So how do I not stab him?" I ask, still smiling widely.

"You are very lucky," he lets me know, "I have just the sword you'll need."

"_You_ have a sword!" I tease.

"Yes, yes, I have a sword, and lucky for you it is magiked not to kill anyone."

"You just _happen_ to have an otherwise completely useless sword just lying around?" I drawl sarcastically.

"Yes, and there is a very good reason for it too," Albeirt insists.

"Right, and that would be?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I can't tell you," he mutters.

"Right," I roll my eyes, random magical items that just 'coincidentally' happen to be exactly what I need, "I really am trapped in a fairy tale!" I groan.

Albeirt is silent, so I again take the initiative to keep business moving forward, "So can I have the sword?" I ask, looking around the room for said sword.

"It's not in here," he shakes his head, and I notice that he is even quieter than he normally is. I'll have to find out whatever story there is behind this sword.

"Well, where is it? I better not have to pull it out of some stone," I joke.

"I stored it in The Princess and the Pea tale," he sighs.

"Well how am I supposed to get it then?"

"You'll just have to go to that fairy tale," he says like it's obvious.

"And how do I do that if they are supposedly random?" I inquire, trying to get more than five word answers from him.

Like pulling teeth!

"I can take care of it." he assures me, "all you'll have to do is get it while you're there."

"And where is it?"

"Under the middle mattress of the bed."

I chuckle, I can't help it! "Wow, couldn't think of a more original hiding place?"

"Yes well, it's not so much a hiding place as a place to store it," he shrugs.

"Well alright, so I get the sword, and how do I make sure I keep it with me?"

"I can take care of that too," he nods, he seems to be loosening up a little more now that he senses we are moving off the subject of the sword.

"Alright, then it's just my job to survive until I can stab Donovan with it," I grin sadistically.

"You can be really scary some times, you know that?" Albeirt says, leaning back in his chair.

"Aww, thank," I smile bashfully, "I do try."

Albeirt grins silently and I lean all the way back in my chair again.

"Anything else you can think of?" I say finally, looking up at the ceiling again, "because this sounds like a pretty good plan," I declare.

"Nope," Albeirt says distantly.

"Well, alright then," I say, still not moving. We sit in silence, until, "Albeirt," I ask, "how much control do you have over the puppets?"

"Complete."

"So, you could use them to talk to me once I go back?" I affirm.

He pauses, I suppose he has never considered it before.

"Yes, I suppose so," he says carefully.

"Albeirt," I pull myself up to look directly at him, "I need a sure answer, we need to be able to communicate after I leave here in a couple minutes."

"Yes, I'm quite sure," he says more forcefully this time.

"Good then," I nod, "Keep an eye on your bubble then," I direct, "I may be calling for you so we can talk." I stay seated and relaxed a few more moments before I finally heave myself off the chair. Where did all that previous energy run off to?

"Alright," I look to Albeirt.

"It was good to meet you," Albeirt says standing and holding out a hand to me. I grin and shake my head. I had forgotten that we had just met, he is so simple and easy to talk to I feel like I have known him for much longer.

"Aww, bye," I ignore the hand and give him a quick hug. "That staircase had better still be gone," I tease lightly, heading towards the door.

Albeirt smiles, "I thought you had wanted to ride the slide again?" I grin in return, but I still catch a strain of tiredness in his face, similar to my own.

"Ah yes," I grin, "How wonderful of you to remember!" I open the door with a creak and sure enough the spiraling slide is there again.

"Would you like me to call Dray to guide you back to the fairy tale?" Albeirt calls quickly before I start down.

Almost on instinct I look around fearfully, "Is he here?" I ask nervously.

"No," Alberit assures me, noticing my fear, "But he is often around helping me with odds and ends."

"Oh," I had distantly wondered what had happened to that little demon. "No, no, I'm fine, I found my way here I'm pretty sure I can get back," I smile nervously. I rush to the edge of the slide and almost trip down in my rush to NOT be helped by Lexi's evil twin, just in case. But I manage to get on and down safely, and I feel slightly more invigorated by the end. As I make my way back to and through the crystal forest I start to feel progressively more and more excited. I have a plan. I know what I am doing! I have a PLAN!

**Oh, and since I haven't met my begging for reviews quota that is required of all FanFic authors(unless you are one of those ridiculously lucky authors with like a thousand readers... but they cheat so it doesn't count). **

**Just becuase I am trying to update regularly does not mean that I don't still just LOVE to find reviews in my inbox. *HINT HINT SUPER FREAKING HINT*.**


	32. A Different Kind of Trip

**Alright, so, I have a confession. I am starting to get a little tired of this story. All the Superhero movies that I love so very much are getting to me, and I had a revelation recently while listening to a POTC song. This story just doesn't have enough action and adventure to keep my attention for much longer. So I have decided to scrap it.**

**Now I know what you are thinking, "She must be kidding!", and yes, I am. Of course I wouldn't just dump this story at the first sign of boredom! Well... not boredom that I can fix at least. The point of this is that I have done some serious thinking and looking back, I have read your reviews, and I have come to several conclusions. I need to go back and do some character development, the characters have evolved a lot out of their originals, but there is still a lot more to go that I, brave explorer that I am, must seek 've all seemed to take an interest in Adele, so I must see if there is more I can do with her, I've got to de-flat Donovan a bit, include or get rid of some of the characters that I have managed to lose in this mess, and most importantly, I need an antagonist! I have do idea how I have gotten this far without a villainous source of darkness and slime!(And Donovan doesn't quite count) You might not realize how big this is for the story and me, but this is the first time I have really appreciated that the first time writing, is about as much the finished product as a log is. Unfortunately for me, it could not just explode out of my head fully formed and perfect(or maybe not so unfortunate, I am rather attached to my head after all).  
**

**I am sorry, I sort of feel like I am letting you down with this next part, but hear me out. I am not going to go back and insert my new ideas. That would be silly for you to try and re-read and me to try and write because I know I am just going to think of something new once I am done with that and then I will never reach the end! In all honesty, this entire story is just one idea smashed on top of another into an enormous, and slightly dangerous, skyscraper of fun! Sure there are plenty of twists and such that have been and are coming, but they were... uhh, accidents? That's just how I write, otherwise I get irreparably bored because nothing new is happening!!! **

**Anyway, my POINT is that I am going to just change it in my head and plow ahead. I promise that I will explain any changes when we reach them. Actually, none of this should affect you for a couple more chapters, and even then, you won't notice anything drastically different because I am pretty good like that, but I thought I should give you a heads up. So I would like to thank you, friends, fans, and reviewers, for understanding. *phew* Now that that is done, enjoy! Because the explanations are behind us, bring on the blood, guts, and glory!!! Or at least a little more action.  
**

A Different Kind of Trip

I trip and stumble my way back through the crystal forest and smile with relief when I finally hit the trail again. I have no way of knowing how long until the other princesses will pass, or if they have already passed due to another time skip. I decide that my best choice at the moment is simply to return back up the trail, crawl in to bed, and try to get whatever amounts to a good night's sleep in here. So I start back up the hill, now blindly this time as I have no torch to guide me. Fortunately all the precious trees are all relatively sparkly despite the lack of light, and I make my way back up without walking into too many of them. I follow the path all the way up to what turns out to be a trap door. I have a mild sense of dejavu looking at the small wooden door in the wall, but nothing beyond that. I open it and have to stoop down to fit through but I exit back into the large room. One of the beds has been moved to reveal the door I just came through, but fortunately it is not my bed, so I don't care. All I really care about is stumbling to my bed, collapsing in and sleeping. I am asleep within seconds, my only thought being that as soon as I fall asleep I am pretty sure there is going to be a time warp and if there is I am pretty sure I am going to kill something.

"Elle, Elle wake up," I am ordered as I am shaken awake.

I groan and turn over.

_"How can you sleep at a time like this, we should leave any second and the soldier is still awake!"_ the words float distantly to my ears, sounding slow and incomprehensible. It kind of sounds like what they are saying should be important, but I am much too tired to think about it.

_"Some one go get Lexi."_

_"You don't think that's a bit extreme?"_

_"I'd be pretty upset if I was woken up that way."_

_"Just do it."_

I snuggle back into my pillow, trying to block out the annoying sounds in the background.

_"Alright, cover your ears,"_

Lexi's ear jarring, head ringing scream fills the room and I am jolted up in less than an instant.

"Good, you're up-" but I don't even get to hear the rest of the statement as I am quickly time warped back down to the tunnels.

Wow, this is getting bad.

Fortunately I don't bump into anyone this time as I seem to be already walking. Weird how that works.

I turn to my left and then my right and am relieved to see Adele walking beside me, so, quickly before I can be warped off again, I lean towards her and whisper, "I talked to the puppet master, we have a plan."

"Good," she nods, "Did you ask if there was anything he could do about these time skips?"

"There isn't much more he can do about the glitches," I mutter bitterly.

"Alright," she sighs, seeming almost as put down as me, "So what's the plan?"

I open my mouth to respond, but pause and look around "Where's Donovan?" I ask, "he should hear this too."

Adele and I peer around, but of course he is invisible.

"Curse invisible cloaks," I mutter. "Come on, lets move to the back of the group and maybe he'll get the idea," I suggest.

So we fall back and sure enough just, moments later I hear somewhere just above my ear, "How was you're trip?"

"You'll be happy to know that the tower that I was in did not spontaneously collapse," I grin straight forward, not even trying to guess where to look for his head.

"Always a plus," Donovan agrees.

"Oh and I am sure you will just love to hear the plan," my grin becomes demonic as I quickly summarize all of what was discussed last night with Albeirt.

"Why do I have to be stabbed!" Donovan whines indignantly, I can just imagine the look on his face. "You guys must have something against me, because it seems like the majority of the time I am getting kicked, punched, beat over the head, and stabbed!"

"Oh man up," I tease, "It won't kill you."

"You could stab me any number of places with a normal knife and not kill me but it'll still bloody hurt!" Donovan exclaims.

"Oh shush, I'm sure it will be fine, it's a magic sword after all."

"It's a magic sword," Donovan mimics. "And that's the other thing, why does this guy just happen to have an otherwise useless sword just lying around?"

"That's what I asked!" I almost shout, quickly grimacing and adding in a quieter tone, "but he wouldn't tell me."

"Well, that was my night," I say, transitioning over to my other plan, "how was your guys' night? Did you dance?"

Adele shakes her head, I can't see Donovan. "No, we just chatted," she says blandly, I frown. This is nonsense. Well, when I am there tonight I will make sure that they-

Suddenly we flash to the boats. I look around, caught mid thought. Well, that was weird-

Another time skip feeling hits but this time it hits from the back and I am sure I have skipped backwards to walking.

Another flash, I am standing back in the room, standing in line in front of the king, and I am starting to feel rather nauseous. It takes some serious will power not to start cursing right then and there. Another night that I didn't get to party and dance!

NOT FAIR!

I pout at the end of the line and it takes me a few moments to realize that we are being talked to again.

"Tonight is your final night girls, in the morning if the soldier cannot tell me where you have been going he will be put to death, are you sure you wish to keep this façade up?" The other girls just stand silently in the line.

Awww, no one cares about Donovan. Though you know, that fact had always sort of escaped my attention. I had never really considered that the princesses were practically murdering all their suitors. That's slightly disturbing.

The king shakes his head, "I am disappointed in you girl's decision an-"

Suddenly I flash back to the boats.

GRIMM IS THIS GETTING ANNOYING!

I peer around and glare at the back of the prince rowing the boat, just waiting for the next stomach wrenching jolt. I really hope this stops soon, the sooner I can just skip to the end the sooner this will be over! …Hopefully. By this point I have pretty much just abandoned the hope that I will get to dance around for a night and I am just hoping that it ends as soon as magically possible.

Another jump and I am being swung around the dance floor with music floating around and bright pastel colors everywhere. I fear I am about to throw up all over the dance floor.

Another and I am about to keel over, I would probably fall if I weren't already on my knees. I barely even register my surroundings only that the world is, to my intense relief starting to fade.

Please let me have passed. Please, Grimm, let me have passed.

* * *

I open my eyes slowly and am remotely surprised to find that I am not in the real world this time. I peer around rather confused, only to become more confused. I am floating in what can only be described as outer space designed like a gaudy Christmas tree. Instead of simple white stares, there are multi colored orbs floating off in the distance, and the feeling of weightlessness is the only one present.

"Well, this is certainly odd," I mutter, only to hear my voice sounding distant and muffled. Like the sound is just absorbed into an almost tangible darkness. It's very hard to describe. I try to twist and look all the way around me, I get a glimpse that suggests there are no stars behind me, only darkness, when suddenly the weight seems to turn on and I am falling down towards the darkness. I land with a muffled thump, like on a sponge.

"Ouch," I mutter, more out of habit than any actual pain.

I peer around and realize that I am having the strangest sensation of seeing things that I feel like I shouldn't be able to see. It is completely black and yet I can make out moving misty shapes sort of like when I was catching the glitches only all around me now. It is almost as if the mist is making some sort of detectable light on its own.

This is beyond weird.

I start to feel just the enetsy-est bit nervous as I am reminded of the glitch I pretty thoroughly owned. Maybe he was a mean glitch, well, am extra mean glitch, and none of the other glitches liked him, and so they wouldn't be upset if I beat him up. Yeah, and maybe fairy tales will start being logical and True Love will suddenly be a good idea.

Not likely.

Just as I expected, I start to sense more deliberate movement than just the drifting mist.

I spin around, trying to find the source of the movement. I crouch down, not quite sure what is going to happen, but I might as well get ready.

I spot a glitch, but quickly loose it.

I spot another, and another. Suddenly they are everywhere.

You know, it's not the darkness or their swooping that is the really intimidating thing. The thing that is really upsetting is that I keep expecting them to make some sort of sound. Or that strange screaming that one glitch had made, but they don't make a noise, in fact I even feel like they are muffling the sound. I shout experimentally, nothing. I hear absolutely nothing.

Suddenly the scream comes back at me, twice as loud and from behind me.

I cringe. Alright, no more shouting.

The mass of glitches start swarming in front of me, almost seeming to mesh themselves into a ball. I frown at the mass.

Suddenly it hits me what they are doing; they are creating some sort of enormous super glitch. Suddenly it unfurls and strikes towards me. I barely have enough time to leap out of the way. I roll back onto my feet and glare at the giant menacing glitch. I can't make out a lot of details on it, but it has the similar imp like, mist shape.

"Come on!" I challenge it, only to hear my words shouted back at me moments later.

The glitch pounces and again I dodge, having to move pretty far to avoid it.

I am starting to get a little intimidated now, intimidated and angry. What the crap am I supposed to do with a giant glitch!

It swipes at me and I am forced to move again.

I try sprinting away, making a break for it in the opposite direction, but it follows and leaps in front of me. I glare at the glitch, realizing there really isn't much I can do against something about a bazillion times my size. So instead of even trying, I relax my stance and just stand, facing the glitch, and trying not to look afraid.

This is ridiculously dream like.

The glitch jerks at me but pulls back quickly, trying to make me jump, like some sort of sadistic cat with a mouse. I stare evenly at the giant glitch.

It starts to circle me, but I don't even turn my head to follow it. When it returns to in front of me it lowers its enormous head down to my level as if inspecting this strange human.

Yeah, you don't scare me big ugly glitch thing… well, not that you need to know.

The thing stands back up and slowly backs up to fade back into the blackness.

I sigh in relief and my knees give out from under me. I take several shaky breaths from my seat on the floor. That was terrifying.

But I don't have much time to ponder over my strange victory because within moments of the glitch's disappearance the floor is just gone and I am back to floating. Then I am flying forward with only the sensation of movement to let me know that I am accelerating. In a moment I can see the multi colored dots again and I realize I am hurtling towards them. Soon I they are all around me, I feel like I could touch them but it's just that my depth perception is absolutely gone. I continue speeding forwards and in another moment a particularly bright gold star is getting noticeably larger. The moment I notice, it starts growing at fantastic speeds and I am thrown into the shining gold orb too quick to even comprehend.

I hit the floor with what feels like a neck breaking jolt, but suddenly all movement stops. My eyes fly open and I am on my hands and knees staring at the hard wood floor. I collapse suddenly, my arms just giving out. It is just so much easier to not even try to do anything at the moment.

"Elle!" Adele's shocked voice.

"Elle, are you okay?" I hear Donovan somewhere above me, and my pounding head almost manages to make him sound concerned.

I groan quietly, it would have been so much easier just to lie here for a few forevers longer, but if Donovan's here-

I struggle to my feet. "Yeah, I'm fine," I lie rubbing my head and waving the two of them off. "Really, just peachy."

I feel like my entire body is one big bruise, completely devoid of strength but I make an effort to smile anyway.

"We were worried," Adele flutters, "The fairy tale had already started and you weren't here."

"Well that's pretty strange," I mumble, their voices still sounding muffled.

Donovan catches my eyes, he is not buying the act, but he doesn't say a word, he just stares at me with his arms crossed. His look sends me the clear message that I can pretend in front of Adele but if I try to keep it up for long he might just knock me out to make me sleep.

I grin innocently, trying harder to keep the tired droop off my eyes. I won't argue with a rest.

"Have there been any time skips yet?" I ask the two of them quickly, worried that if those keep up I won't be able to get anything done.

"No, nothing strange yet," Adele assures me.

"Besides you being late," Donovan adds, "Where were you?"

I almost don't answer, being understandably cranky I manage to take that rather offensively. Who does he think he is? My mom? I sigh and say rather shortly "I didn't visit the real world this time, I was attacked by glitches."

Adele pales noticeably, and I don't even try to guess what Donovan is thinking.

"Yeah, I beat this one glitch up and all these other ones made this huge glitch and came back at me with a vengeance, maybe the glitches will back off a little now?" I explain, though by the looks on their faces that just made no sense and I might as well have just been babbling incoherently.

Made sense to me.

I shake my head, ready to move onto a new topic, "Alright, so which fairy tale is this?" I look around at the cheery sort of well-lit room with all sorts of bright colors and flowery tapestries.

No clues.

I look to Donovan who shrugs, but before I can even ask Adele a clone comes bursting into the room. She's carrying some sort of basket of who knows what. What I'm more interested in is when she starts speaking just like Albeirt.

"Elle!"

"Albeirt?" I ask incredulously.

"Yeah!" he/she responds rather excitedly, "It works, I can talk to you!"

Adele and Donovan just stare in shocked silence at the two of us.

"That's great," I assure him, cringing just a little bit at his poor choice in bodies, "Now, can you make the clone look more like you? Or at least a guy? It's just a little disconcerting is all."

"Oh right," the clone girl/Albeirt looks embarrassed but quickly and strangely morphs into Albeirt... standing there in a dress. I can't help it, I break out laughing. I even catch Donovan and Adele trying to hide a smirk.

"What?" he asks, rather flustered. He looks down at the dress and turns bright red all the way up to his ears, "Whoops." He quickly amends the problem and looks back up at me, "Better?" he asks.

I grin, "Depends on what you mean by better," I tease, amazed that I still have the brain capacity to joke.

"Yes well…" he glances nervously up at Adele and Donovan.

"Oh whoops," I say quickly, eager to get to whatever point Albeirt is here to make. "Adele, Donovan," I point at each in turn, "And this is Albeirt, the puppet master," I introduce.

Donovan snorts, "You're kidding."

"That's what I said! But no it's really him," I assure them.

"Now, Albeirt, do you have something to ask us?" I look at him pointedly. Albeirt practically tears his eyes away from Adele to look at me again. I will really have to talk to him alone about that. I have to make sure the girl I am pairing up really is free for goodness sakes! And if it is a choice between pairing her up with Albeirt or Donovan, there is no way Donovan could beat out a cuddly little Albeirt! I really shouldn't talk about people like that… but I can't help it! It's how I'm trained! And at least I'm staying open to the possibilities! But I digress.

"Right," Albeirt nods, back to reality. "Umm, Adele's got to go stepsister back in Cinderella, there's a new princess."

I stare incredulously at him, he's got to be joking.

"Who?" I demand, though I have a bad feeling who it might be, there is only one book with that spell in it as far as I know.

"Umm, something like a flower," Albeirt struggles to remember, "she just got here I can't really be sure."

"Jasmine?" I fill in.

"Yes, that's the one!" Albeirt smiles widely.

Donovan and I exchange quick glances.

I curse under my breath. Jaz! Why would you do something like this to me!

"Who's her prince?" Donovan asks an instant before I can get the same question out.

"Uhh," Albeirt has to struggle even harder for this one, "I- I- brown hair, maybe?"

I'm not sure whether to sigh in relief, jump up and down for joy, or be angry that I was wrong. It's not Anthony! I feel a little weird that Jaz might be paired up with someone she may not even know (though there is plenty of possibility that we do know him of course, maybe Paul from Magical Items? He's cute. But I digress again…), but nevertheless, I can't suppress a grin. It's enough to help me calm down about Jaz even being here in the first place, besides, there's no reason to freak until I can interrogate her later.

"Umm, I really have to take Adele now," Albeirt breaks into my thoughts. Adele nods and follows Albeirt with a shrug. "I'll send a replacement for the what ever it is, it's Rumplestiltskin anyway, not too important," Albeirt calls back, "And Lexi should be here any minute!" he manages just before the door closes behind him.

"So… Rumplestiltskin," I nod, still grinning a little.

"You are absolutely transparent," Donovan rolls his eyes moodily.

"What?" I ask, as if I don't already know what he means. I am still glowing from the news about Anthony.

Donovan just shakes his head silently and goes to lean against the wall to wait for Lexi to show up and dictate at us what's going on.

"What?" I press, following him to the wall, wanting to make him say it.

"Nothing," he mutters, refusing to make eye contact with me.

"Jealous?" I ask and flip my still ridiculously short hair, ruining the effect but getting the point across anyway.

He snorts, "Hardly. Shouldn't you go lie down or something?"

I frown. When did we suddenly move ten steps backwards? We were just joking around and stuff in all the previous fairy tales and suddenly he's going to get all cold on me?

"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" I say dropping the teasing tone, concerned, "If you're worried that Anthony's going to be upset that Jaz has a-"

"That's not it," he says shortly.

I glare, losing patience, and I don't have that much to start with, "Well then what?"

"Nothing," Donovan insists, his voice getting dangerous.

"No, now I want to know," I say, impatience turning to anger.

Finally he bursts, "You want to know?" he erupts.

"No, I'm just asking because I DON'T want to know!" I shoot back sarcastically, trying but failing at stopping my voice from rising to match his.

"I feel like I have been training a pet dragon not to eat the furniture and I come home one day to find the whole house burned down to the ground!" he shouts. I narrow my eyes at the insinuation.

"So… I'm just some sort of misbehaving pet?" I say dangerously quiet, "Is that what you're trying to say? You've been training me out of liking Anthony?"

Donovan is silent.

"Any particular reason?" I ask menacingly, daring him to answer. "It's obvious that you do not plan on telling me, so shall I just suppose it has something to do with that you enjoy making me miserable?" I shout, falling back far too easily into seeing him as little more than bottom feeding, scum.

"No!" he shouts, interrupting my tirade before I get a chance to really dig into it, "I just didn't think you would be good for him!"

I glare silent death at him, willing him to drop dead.

"I- I mean," he sputters, realizing what he just said, "I meant that I didn't think he would be good for you," he tries to amend, but it is far past too late. I know how he really feels now, that I am some sort of… of parasite on his best friend. So much for any sort of friendship I'd mistakenly thought was there!

I- he- he's such a-

Red hot indignant rage clouds my mind, I swing my fist towards his face but he catches me.

"Elle, I didn't mean it like that, I messed up, I-"

"-are just the troll headed ass I always thought you were," I fill in for him, swinging my leg at his feet and using his grip on my fist to bring him to the floor. Or at least that's what was supposed to happen, but I am still running on empty and I may have forgotten how tired I was but my legs sure didn't. Instead I end up collapsing to the floor, held up only by Donovan's grip on my wrist.

"Elle!" Lexi's shrill, no longer toddler-ish, voice suddenly rings out.

I wrench my hand from Donovan's.

"What is going on!" she demands. I liked her better as a toddler.

"Nothing," I mutter quietly, struggling to get up. Donovan tries to help me, but I shove him away so hard I fall again. "Don't even try," I hiss at him, getting up again.

"Elle-" he tries quietly, like he is about to say something but he takes one look at Lexi and catches my bone-chilling glare and falls silent.

I thought so.

"What do we do Lexi?" I ask, keeping my voice at a determined monotone.

Lexi seems caught off guard by my sudden willingness to follow orders but quickly launches in to her favorite past time.

"The prince has to order you to spin all the straw in that room," Lexi says pointing at a door in the wall. She looks pointedly at Donovan. He doesn't even look up to acknowledge he heard her.

"I said-" she tries again.

Donovan emits a loud sigh and without even looking up, "You must spin the all of the straw in that room to gold before I return in the morning," he orders at the floor, then sweeps out like the troll he is, slamming the door behind him. I'm not sure how a troll could sweep out of a room but that's just how much of a troll he is that he manages it…

I need some sleep.

"That room?" I confirm with Lexi.

"Yes," she nods, apparently rather confused about what has been going on. Imagine that, being confused about Donovan, I'm even more confused than Lexi and I was there!

"Right," I mutter listlessly. I drag myself to the room and barely register the surroundings beyond the stack of hay in the corner, which I promptly fall into. It either says a lot about how bad I must look or Lexi simply doesn't have any orders at the moment and isn't creative enough to think of anything, but either way, I fall quickly into a deep and undisturbed sleep.

**Oh! And thank you to everyone who wrote all of those long lovely reviews, they made me so happy! (A wonderful pickme up after Midterms week AND SATs today) And from above, see? I really do listen to what you say in them! I am always trying to make the story better and everything you point out as sort of flat, or awesome and you want to see more of, I really work to address!**


	33. Spinning Gold and Lies

**Yes, I know I missed last Saturday, I know. But I have a good excuse, honest! I finally got a new laptop to replace my old DEAD one, last week and it has Vista so I have had a ridiculous time trying to figure out how ANYTHING works. Just another week till my Dad comes back and then I can just put Linux(Ubuntu) on the thing and be done with it! And that's not all! No of course not because distractions never come alone. Into that deadly concoction of time wasting 'fun' was mixed play practice for FIVE hours that Sat and then four more on Sun and Tues, was THAT fun or what? Not. Anyway, I am left rather brain dead and with a slight case of writer's block, so bear with me here. This chapter is still pre-I'mgonnachangeupallsortsofcrap so nothing to worry about.**

Spinning Gold and Lies

When I wake up I am still angry and sore, but I am awake enough to be hungry so that has to count for something. I roll out of the hay stack and onto my feet, peering blearily about the room for Lexi.

She doesn't seem to be in here.

I rub my eyes and yawn before I go to leave the room. It has gotten much darker and the window is now letting in only moonlight to the small, almost dungeon like room so I bump around a bit before I find the door knob.

Jammed.

I wiggle it some and kick the door.

Alright, so it seems to be locked.

I curse and kick the door. I stomp back over to the straw and throw myself down in a cloud of loose bits of hay.

I glare at the window, too far up to even look properly out of. My stomach growls. I groan and shut my eyes. I hate this curse! I hate it so much!

I roll to my side and try to just go back to sleep, but it's no use, I'm just too hungry now. I growl and sit up, glaring at the door now. How dare Lexi lock me in here! Why when I get my hands on her.

"Why hello princess," I hear a voice from behind me. I start forward and whip around to find the intruder, but no one is in the room.

"Up here!"

I glance up at the window and sure enough a little goblin man with a dangerously pointy nose and ears is hanging in the window.

He jumps in and lands in the middle of the room right in front of me, wearing strange overdone puffy clothes that make him look much more self important than his wide pleasant smile suggests.

"Hello," I greet him, pleasantly enough "I didn't quite think Rumplestiltskin was a goblin," I point out, "just some creepy little man."

"True enough," the goblin shrugs, "but the curse is recycling parts."

I sigh in relief, "Finally! Another character who isn't a clone or doesn't keep insisting that the script be followed!"

The goblin bows, "Never was too fond of that old script myself," he assures me

"What other part did the curse steal you for?" I ask curiously, trying to recall any other fairy tales with goblins. I can think of a few with demons, but goblins were not remarkably common…

"Oh all sorts of various bits with short villains," he shrugs, "Once played an evil wizard, that was fun, but if you don't mind I believe we have some business?" he says pleasantly. I grin, I like this guy.

"Sure," I nod.

"Right then if I may just have the ring on your finger I will get about spinning this straw to gold!" he claps his hands.

I am about to say that I don't think the curse gave me a ring when I look down at my hand and sure enough there is one.

How terribly convenient.

I pull the much too tight thing off with some difficulty. "Actually," I say as I hand the ring to the goblin man, "If it's not too much trouble, do you think it would be possible to spin some noodles for me first?" I inquire, hoping for some food. I mean, if he can supposedly spin straw into gold, why not spaghetti? Please? I'm starving.

The goblin gives me a strange look but smiles all the same and nods, "O' course little miss princess."

"Elle," I say, "Just Elle is fine, and thanks."

"Elle then," the goblin says. I sit down in front of the door and watch as the goblin drags a spinning wheel out of a corner where I hadn't noticed it, grabs a large handful of hay and sets about spinning me my dinner.

"If you wouldn't mind coming here and holding this," he snaps and a plate appears out of no where.

"Well isn't that useful to have," I grin pulling myself quickly up to help. I take the plate and seconds later and enormous piece of spaghetti is rolling out onto it.

I grin, now that, is ridiculously cool.

I pinch off an end and taste it, much better than gold, and considering how hungry I am and how I have been denied even the simplest forms of decent food, even the plain noodles are enough to make me sing. If I were the singing type.

Very quickly my plate is full and the goblin's armful of hay is finished. I thank him and return to my seat at the door, going at the plate with my fingers. He sets about spinning the hay into gold thread this time.

"If you don't mind me asking," I say in between bites, "How did you end up getting stuck in here? I'd never really thought to ask any of the other magical beings in here."

"Nah, I don't mind," he assures me, "Though I have to tell you, I really don't remember much of it anymore." He pauses to think, "The witch who created this curse is probably long dead by this point, but if I recall correctly she had been hired by a king in the magical world to create this curse."

"Why?" I press, excited that I am finally getting some answers.

"Well, the king had… six? Maybe seven… well either way, he had a lot of daughters, all strong and intelligent and stubborn as an ass." He says, as I settle in for what I am sure is going to be a good story, something about the way the goblin talks he just seems like a natural storyteller. "Well, these girls took it into their heads that they were not going to marry and all just rule themselves as queens. The king, name might have been George, but might as well just call him the king since there aren't any others, well he was a pretty conservative sort of man and he didn't like the idea of his daughters ruling, that or he wanted grandchildren, probably both. Anyway, so he hired this witch, real smart woman, but batty as, well, a bat. He told her to make him a spell that would find the one man for each of his daughters that they simply could not say no to, that was their true love. He gave her all sorts of permissions and leniencies and money and in less than a year she had the curse almost ready for him."

The spinning wheel thumped in a hypnotic rhythm, combined with the dark and my full stomach I almost began to relax.

"So she came to him with the almost finished curse and told him that it could only be completed if it was inhabited by several magical beings that could run thing from the inside. What she told this king was that since it was only going to be used for his daughters that the curse would be dismembered afterwards and the creatures set free. So the king sent the information out to all the inhabitants of his lands and the neighboring ones, asking for creatures willing to accept this 'noble' task. There was to be honor, knightship, and land as a reward, so it obviously interested enough magical creatures that the positions were quickly filled, myself included-"

"What are the others?" I interrupt quickly.

"Well, I believe you met Giselle the Fairy Godmother and Garallrouillous, a kelpie, he was your Falada-"

"I was wondering what he was," I nod.

"Then there's Lexi and Dray who are twin pixies, and Xjarl the Giant, Shysalliah, a water spirte, and Carl the unicorn."

I snort. That is a great name for a unicorn.

"So what happened? Why are you still trapped?" I inquire, transitioning back to the story. I bet it was the witch's fault, she probably refused to dismember the curse, trying to preserve he legacy or something.

"Ah, yes, well that is a bit complex way I remember it. Now, you of course know the danger of getting to the end without falling in love with your true love?"

I snort, see all the problems that this ridiculous belief in True Love causes?

The goblin smoothly ignores my outburst and continues, "Well, the eldest- no perhaps the youngest daughter, nicest girl, or at least I suppose she was, really don't remember, but something went wrong and she failed the curse and got trapped. There were rumors going around that her prince was missing completely, never even chosen. Well, naturally the king wasn't too pleased about it, not supposed to play favorites but I am pretty sure she was his so the king ordered the witch to get his daughter back on pain of death. Well, after that something happened, and no one is quite sure what, but the princess must have gotten out of the curse since no one saw her after that, all we know is that the witch disappeared, the puppet master showed up and we never got out like we were promised. Some of the creatures say that because the curse was meant to marry off all of the princesses it could never be broken till it's job was complete. Not sure, all we know for sure is that the curse kept bein' used."

My mind is spinning trying to grasp all the implications in the goblin's story, but I just stop trying after a few moments, "I'm sorry," I mumble to the goblin instead.

"Don't be," he shrugs, "All the creatures are saying that you are gonna get us out of this curse, not sure how, but you seem like a clever enough girl, I trust that you can do it, so it is the least I can do to help you best way I can."

I smile a little, "I'll sure try," I nod.

"Well then," the goblin says hopping off the spinning wheel and dusting off his hands, "that's done." I look at the pile of gold thread and at the empty corner, I hadn't even realized he was done.

"Grimm, you're fast," is all I can say.

"Magic does help with that," he smiles, "It was wonderful to make your acquaintance princess Elle," he says with a flourish and a bow.

"You too-" I start but he is already gone. I sigh and lean back up against the door. Well, that was a very informative chat, but I don't have time right now to think over all that he said, I have more immediate problems to deal with Jaz being a pretty pressing one. I suppose I should try and deal with it now that I have the strength to even think clearly.

"Albeirt!" I shout at the empty room, "we've got some talking to do!" My voice echoes strangely around the room.

Yes, yes, I know you are all probably filled to the brim and bored with talking, but it's not _your_ best friend who seems to have decided to trap herself in a curse along with you, now is it?

"Albeirt, you'd better be watching your stupid bubble and not making googly eyes over Ad-"

"I'm here, I here!" a rather flustered looking Albeirt suddenly appears in front of me, "and I was not making googly eyes over anyone!"

He's lying.

Guess I was right, of course I'm always right so… "We'll discuss exactly who you were or were not making googly eyes over in a minute," I assure him with a smile, "First order of business is Jaz, the other princess."

"Yes, your friend?" Albeirt nods.

"Good, good, you remember. Now- Why is she bloody here!" I demand.

"I- I- I don't know, I didn't ask," he stutters, caught off guard by my shouting.

"What did you ask?" frustration blatantly obvious in my tone.

"I didn't know I was supposed to-"

"Albeirt!" I groan, slumping back to the floor. " I sort of need to talk to her, find out what exactly is going through her head that she would follow me into this crazy place."

"Well… I- I- might be able to arrange that," Albeirt nods carefully.

"Good, now what are you going to do?" I press. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to start with the shouting, Albeirt is just too excitable, but it is frustrating that I now have one more thing to deal with!

"There are one or two stories that are large enough to accommodate two princesses at a time, I can try to influence the curse to choose one of them so that you guys can talk."

"Alright good, that is what I need," I reassure him.

"So- can I go?" he asks quickly.

"Nope," I shake may head, adopting a smile again, "We are going to talk about Adele."

I there is a poofing sort of sensation and suddenly he is gone again.

"Albeirt, get back here!" I demand of the empty room, "You are not getting out of this that easily."

The nervous poofing is enough to convince me that is he is absolutely in love with her and it instantly puts me in a much better mood because I will be able to match Adele up with someone much better than Donovan. Stupid, manipulative troll that he is, he doesn't deserve her.

"Albeirt, you know that I am a realizer and a determined one at that, you can't just run away from me! I could help you-"

Another poof behind me, "I- I- I don't-"

"Of course you do," I say pouncing on him and grabbing his arm before he can poof away again. He shakes his head furiously, but when have I ever taken no for an answer?

"I have decided I am going to help you," I nod, letting him know that he no longer has a say in the matter.

"But- but- but- I always get so nervous around her, and flustered and-" he spews, not even trying to deny it any more.

"That's what I am here for," I assure him, letting go of his arm now that I can be reasonably sure he isn't going to run off. "All you have to do is trust me," I grin, "And listen to everything I say. Admitting it is the first step," I smile. "Now, tell me everything."

He nods, and goes into an explanation of how he thinks she is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen and how she is just oh so terribly nice and wonderful and kind and all other such synonyms for generally amazing. But I will spare you the ear rotting sweetness of it all and summarize. He liked her since he first saw her and he likes he an awful lot. He's just really shy, as we all know.

"Albeirt, I do believe I can take care of it," I finally proclaim, grandly.

"Al- alright, but you aren't going to make me do anything embarrassing are you?" he asks nervously.

"Of course not." Depends on what he considers embarrassing.

Silence follows.

"Albeirt, how did you get here?" I ask quickly before I can think better of it.

"I just poofed-" he says slightly confused.

"No, no, to the curse," I say, thinking of what the goblin had been saying.

He pauses, "Honestly, I don't really remember," he says quietly.

"Well, how about this magical sword of yours?" I press, sure that he knows more than he will easily let out.

"Nothing, I-"

"If you don't remember how would you even know what it does? You have to have some memories!"

Albeirt looks nervously at the floor, refusing to make eye contact, "I- I- I don't even know who I was."

"And the sword?" I press mercilessly, I'll feel bad for him later when I don't have answers that I need to squeeze out of him.

"I- It's just a fragment of a memory, I remember thinking that it was going to get me out of something that I really didn't want to do, I was going to stab myself with it and pretend to die-"

"Oh… I'm sorry Albeirt," I mutter, not sure what else to say to that, guess I finally got that answer.

"I'm- I'm going to go," I nod and with a final poof he is gone again.

I collapse back against the door. I am already exhausted again. This curse has just gotten three times as complicated… I feel like for every question answered there are a hundred more that pop up, and plots and problems that need solving just keep popping up without anything else ever getting finished!

Lets see, we have the curse that I actually have to get out of, but that is on hold until the Princess and the Pea. There is Jaz, which although nerve stretching and promises to make me what to kill something, is handled for the moment, all I have to do is convince Jaz to get out quickly as soon as I find her. The less problems I have to deal with the better. Then there is Adele and Albeirt that I have to plan and plot, but I feel like the opportunities will arise as I go along. I have to deal with this fairy tale, but at the moment it isn't looking to hard…

My eyes start to drift closed and I can feel my mind sluggishly trying to stay on focus. I wonder how I am going to give all the spaghetti- no, gold- how am I going to- shouldn't it be heavy. I move my head and blink my eyes in an attempt to wake up better and keep thinking logically, but I am too comfortable to move much beyond that.

Then I have to yell at Donovan…- No wait, I don't want to yell at- am I supposed to? I- I can't remember if I am supposed to be angry at him at the moment, didn't he… say something… yeah… and then… I'm angry at him.

**If you are still managing to feel any pity for me after that mess of a chapter, I'm sure you know how you could brighten my day.**

**PS. Everyone, this is my new Laptop, Iago(bad ass villain from Othello). Iago, this is everyone. He is very happy to meet you and- no damit Vista! you give me back my window and stop freezing!... XP GAH  
**


	34. Names

**Yeah, I know I'm late. Sorry. I've just been having a pretty bad week and well... Sorry I can't offer you a better chapter than this, it just... it feels a bit empty to me, whatever.**

**Names  
**

I wake up cursed quickly as I am rolled onto my face when the door behind me pushes me up and forward.

I curse loudly and struggle to get up and away from the door, stupid, inconsiderate, who would-

I turn around to see Donovan swagger in, I should have known. He is looking at me expectantly as if to see how I will act.

"Prince Troll Face," I sweep a curtsy mockingly, blatant enough for him?

"Dairson," he responds blankly, the stupid- stupid- But before I can even think another insult he continues, "follow me to the next room," he orders.

"No, I think I like it here," I sit down insolently, I have to move eventually but I just want to see him get frustrated.

He just raises an eyebrow at me, "We both know that you are going to have to come along eventually." Curse him and his reading my mind.

"Yes, but I want to see you get angry first," I respond, not even trying to pretend like he's wrong. I glare right at him daring him to break eye contact.

He looks away.

"Elle… Dairson," he corrects himself. He sighs at the corner and suddenly walks over to me and collapses down next to me. I scoot away uncomfortably, not really sure what to say or think other than this was not what I had had in mind when I said angry.

"Dairson," he mutters, wrapping his arms around his knees, "Don't you ever get tired of fighting all the time? Doesn't it take something out of you to be angry?"

I stare silently at him. Is it a trick question? Should I answer? If I say yes, do I lose? Do I even have a truthful answer to that?

He sighs again, resting his head on his knees a moment before getting back up to his feet, "I do. I'll admit it, it kills me to think that we've gone back to being enemies just because… because I mis-spoke, and I would rather at least be able to joke with you and be friends than lose you for any other reason."

I am caught by surprise at this sudden confession… he- he seems truthful, what other reason could he possibly have for lying.

_To continue your "training"_, the angry voice in the back of my head says.

For the umpteenth time in this fairy tale alone, my head is spinning, and I can only sit in silent confusion.

Donovan sighs and it breaks me out of my thoughts. "The next room is out in the hallway and twelve doors down to the right," he says before heading back towards the door, but he stops at the threshold. Without even turning, "I really did misspeak," he says one last time, "I didn't- wouldn't… If you _really_ love Anthony, then far be it from me to interfere," and with that he sweeps out.

I stare at the empty door way and slide the rest of the way down the wall and onto my back. From the floor I groan loudly and clutch my head. Stupid Donovan and his stupid mind games.

I sigh, and after a few moments of gathering… strength I suppose, I pull myself back up, using the wall for support.

I keep my mind carefully blank as I glance around the room and walk out to the adjoining room which I can only suppose leads to the hall. I poke my head out into the hallway and it seems pretty safely empty. It's all dark reddish colors that look like they were never meant to be seen in full lighting. I step out and pause, trying to remember the directions. Left? Yeah, twelve doors down to the left. I slam the door behind me before I continue and it closes with a resounding crash that echoes off through the lonely halls.

One, two…

Donovan sort of did seem sincere

No! I firmly return my mind to counting.

Four, five, six…

But what if he was? I would have just been a giant sized troll- NO!

Ten… no wait, eleven? No, definitely ten. Now, eleven, twelve, and here it is. I sigh and stare at the door, not even moving to open it. Seemingly with a will of its own my memory replays my entire short conversation with Donovan.

Well, he shouldn't have… he doesn't misspeak, it's Donovan, I can see him wanting to… well… maybe, I… RIGHT! Curses! He'd said right! Not left!

I quickly rush down back the other way, counting to 24 this time!

I barely even think, I don't want to think, this time before going to open the door this time.

Locked.

WHAT! I jiggle the gold doorknob again, throw my weight against it, but sure enough, it's locked. I proceed to kick out all of my anger and frustration on the door. Stupid, cursed Donovan! Of course he would give me bad directions to a locked door! Of bloody course, and now I am stuck in this hallway, for who bloody knows how long and-

Wait. I am struck by a sudden thought. I move down one more door and try it.

Sure enough the door opens onto another room filled with even more straw than the last. I sigh. Well, don't I feel like a troll.

This is not doing anything for the guilt that is already accumulating and threatening to drive me crazy!

I spend the rest of whatever the curse decides goes for a day, pacing the room and practically ripping my hair out, one moment trying to reason why or why not Donovan would lie, the next raging around the room, absolutely indignant at him or ready to shoot myself for being so stubborn. I finally wear myself out and fall asleep on one of the piles.

I wake up much later, and can't even remember when I went to sleep or who I was angry at when I stopped, Donovan or myself. I rub my eyes and yawn, stretching my arms, I suddenly pull them back and quickly turn to look at what had previously been just a pile of hay.

Damn, I was asleep for a while.

The entire room is already sparkling with the golden thread laying around in neat piles lining the sides of the room. My eyes finally land on a plate of spaghetti sitting in the middle of the room. I sigh.

I missed the pleasant little goblin man.

I manage to pull myself up and wander over to the plate. I eat without even tasting it, and once I've finished I barely even remember eating it. I sit cross-legged, my head in my hands, trying to figure out what exactly was taking such a toll on my mind.

Again my mind flashes to my most recent fight with Donovan. It replays over and over again until soon I am ready to knock myself out if only it will stop me from thinking. And that's when I realize. Donovan is my friend, not just someone I can talk to, but someone I enjoy talking to. We have the same sense of humor and it's easy to laugh when I am with him. Somewhere along the way he became my friend and it is tearing me apart that I haven't been treating him like one! I'd cut off a hand for my friends, and here I can't even trust him when he says he misspoke!

I sigh. If he says that he was only trying to help me… fine. I haven't exactly been up front with him about trying to control his romantic life. I groan. I've been almost as bad as him! This time my mind flashes to all those times I had interpreted his expressions as him liking Adele. That's all they had been, my interpretations!

I raise my head and glare proudly at the door. I'll go apologize to him. I'll tell him everything and we'll both promise to stay out of each other's romantic lives, never mind that mine barely counts for a "romantic life". Then we can go back to teasing and joking and insulting each other! It'll be great. As for Anthony… Donovan will just have to get over it.

I smile, and let out a long breath. I finally feel like some huge weight has just been lifted.

I am suddenly full of energy and I start up towards the door, struggling with numb legs. I manage to get to the door and am just about to turn the handle when there is a poofing noise behind me.

"Elle!"

I turn to find a rather flustered Albeirt panting behind me and looking like he has something terribly important to tell me. I sigh inwardly. This couldn't have waited the half hour that it would have taken me to find Donovan?

"Yeah, Albeirt?" I sigh, still holding the doorknob, not quite wanting to release it and focus on this new problem.

"I've done it, I can get you two in the same tale!" he says excitedly.

"That's great!" I smile at him, now if that's all I can just-

"But you've got to hurry! The other princess just finished her fairy tale and you have to finish yours too before the curse has time to load a different one for her!" The words tumble so quickly out of his mouth I don't quite understand what he is saying until a moment later.

I curse under my breath. So I have to finish in the next five minutes? I close my eyes tightly, trying to think of the most necessary parts of Rumplestiltskin.

Hay to gold, Prince, blah blah, more hay, baby, gold, comes to take the baby, three days, guess the name-

"Elle?" Albeirt ask slowly, confused by my silence.

"Go get Rumplestiltskin," I order, my eyes flashing open. He's gone.

I finally (reluctantly) release the doorknob; instead, I begin to anxiously pace the room. The random thought crosses my mind before I can think of something else. Baby. How exactly was the curse planning on that one?

A shiver runs down my spine and I gag a little.

Fortunately Albeirt returns before I have anymore time to think about it.

"He's coming," he says quickly, and sure enough within moments the goblin is crawling in through the window.

"Princess," he says, jumping in and sweeping a quick bow.

"We need to speed this fairy tale along really quick," I summarize for him.

"Alrigh' what do you want me ta do?" he says, simply.

"Ask for the baby," I order.

"I'd like your first born baby."

"If I can guess your name then you let me keep it, deal?" I say quickly.

"Alright, what's my name," he says catching on easily.

"Rumplestiltskin." I wait for the world to fade.

Any minute now.

I look around at the room in confusion, why is it not going away.

"Curses!" I mutter.

"Try guessing his real name!" Albeirt suggests helpfully.

"Uhh, what _is_ you real name?" I ask, rather mad at myself that I didn't bother to find out earlier.

The goblin just shakes his head, ears flopping.

I groan and run my hands over my face. Great, guessing. I am so bad at this…

"Uh…" I say, all names promptly flying from my mind. "Jeff?"

He shakes his head.

"Bob?"

Nope.

"John?"

No.

"Paul?" "Fred?"

Nice try, oh wait, NOT.

Same with Cornelius, Larry, Harry, Jim, Coriander, Laffle, Farfigtugen, and Giles.

"This is ridiculous!" I growl in frustration, throwing up my hands. "There must be a bazillion possible names that I know, and another two bazillion that I've never even heard of, and I am supposed to guess in the next two minutes?"

The goblin and Albeirt give me an apologetic look, but neither of them say anything.

"Alright, alright," I press the heels of my hands to my eyes, trying to think, "Can I have a hint?"

"Uhh," the goblin and Albeirt exchange looks, "Not sure if that really counts as guessing then…" the goblin mutters.

"Look we don't have time," I declare. "You," I point at the goblin, "Go outside, and sing and dance and say your name." The goblin grins, seeing where I am going with this. He calmly nods and exits via the window.

"Albeirt, poke your head out, you are spying for me," I explain quickly, "I beg you, please find out his name," Albeirt smiles, hurrying to the window and poking his head out.

"Gural!" Albeirt says a few moments later, bringing his head back in.

"Great call him back in," I roll my eyes. I never would have guessed that in a million years.

The goblin quickly hops back in, smiling widely. Dear Grimm, if this works… it may just be the stupidest thing this curse has ever made me do!

"Your name is Gural," I say quickly.

"No, no, no," Albeirt shakes his head from the corner, "It's Gural."

"That's what I said!" I shoot back.

"No, you said G-uh-ral, it's Goo-ral," Albeirt pronounces for me.

"Fine!" I roll my eyes, "Goo-ral."

"And that it is," the goblin affirms, just as the world begins to fade.

"Thank Grimm," I sigh with relief. I can NOT believe that worked, by all accounts it definitely should not have, but hey, I'm not complaining!

"See you soon Albeirt! Nice meeting you Gooral!" I wave. Now off to find Donovan and Jaz and her mystery man. Boy is she getting and earful when I find her! And Donovan… well, I owe him an apology. Wow, never thought I would ever say that!

**Alright so, I have a request. In an attempt to get some helpful feed back I would ask that if, in this or any chapter to come, you find a line particularly funny you let me know, becuase at the moment approach to jokes is like a shot gun, just fire off a bunch and hope one hits. Not to mention I am always insecure about my sense of humor, and I am always interested in what other people find funny. So, if you can find it in your heart or your schedual to do this, I will love you forever!**


	35. Girl Talk

**So I am actually on time this week! Yay! On the down side this chapter is very short… sorry 'bout that. I am over loaded at the moment with school and play practice and all of my teachers seem to think it is a good idea to give great big tests all on the same short week! So yeah…**

Girl Talk

I'm just wondering if I am still going to visit the real world if Jaz isn't there. Maybe that star place again? I didn't go to the real world last time, and as far as I can suppose that's when Jaz came so… but I'm not getting anything.

I look around and it has surely been long enough, but… nothing, it's still all black. I don't even get the stars, its just strangely black, the kind of black like in your dreams. I can see myself and I feel like it is well lit but I have nothing to reference it against because I am still surrounded by this pitch black.

I suddenly realize that I am standing. Shut up! In a place like this I am amazed I can even figure out I am right side up.

So what else can I do? I start walking.

Whatever light there is seems to be at least coming with me.

I walk boredly for what could be anywhere between a few feet to a few hundred meters. Slowly, I begin to notice a pinkish light in the distance. At first I don't even notice it, I'm just so used to all the black, but soon it becomes prominent.

I break into a jog.

The pink light begins to take a decidedly tower shape, well this is sure new. I get this wonderful rush, a feeling just like when I was walking to find the puppet master, the feeling that I wasn't quite supposed to be there. I break into a dead sprint before the curse can try to take it away. No matter how fast I run though the tower gets no closer than that. I start to get frustrated, I feel like I am running on a treadmill. Like not matter how fast I run, there is something stopping me from going any farther.

Experimentally I stop and start moving backwards.

Well there! I can tell it's getting farther away when I do that! Stupid, cursed…

I change directions again and move forwards this time until it stops moving again. I stand still and reach my hand forward, stretching as far as I can. Now that my feet are not moving I can feel a force trying to push them back as I push forwards. I dig my heels in and lean forward. Whatever it is, it is definitely stopping me from moving forwards.

I growl in frustration and glare at the unseen barrier. Well, isn't that just bloody great. I cross my arms, shamelessly pouting.

"Elle!"

I hear my name in the distance.

"Jaz!" I shout, recognizing the speaker. I spin this way and that looking for her.

There! I run away from the tower and towards the bobbing yellow head of my friend. "Jaz! I found you!" I say rushing to hug her before I can remember that I am going to yell at her.

"We came to save you!" Jaz says proudly. Hugging me back.

I frown. Right…

"Jaz!" I wave my arms exasperatedly, "what in the two worlds possessed you to follow me into this bloody place!"

Jaz doesn't even waver, she's used to my dramatics.

"We came to save you," she repeats with a smile.

"Look…" I try to put this gently, "At the moment, you being here is just giving me one more person to worry about getting out of here." Jaz's hair starts to darken to a bluish color. I should probably explain about the hair. Jaz's hair is a natural mood meter. When she was little her older brother screwed up a potion, then dared her to drink it. Stupid yes, but not dangerous at least. Anyway, that's what she got stuck with. I'm convinced it is part of how she grew into such an open person.

"No, no," she presses, "the professor guessed that if we casted the curse again it might reset it again, and if it didn't then you and Donovan could like… hop out with us on our coattails! Which is how he put it, which is a rather silly way to put it I'd think but I suppose it makes sense at least. I-"

"The professor is crazy!," I interrupt before she can get too far, if given the opportunity she can talk for hours on end. "You couldn't tell?"

"Well… but…" she starts playing with her hair, nervous habit.

"I already talked with Albeirt-"

"You know the professor on a first name basis?" she says in confusion.

"Eww… no, the puppet- the guy controlling this whole mess," I amend quickly.

"Oh, then he can just let us all out!" Jaz says, her hair returning to the cheery yellow.

"Not quite," I realize I am doing an awful job explaining this. I return to the beginging and quickly tell her all about Adele and befriending Donovan and trying to set them up (she looks a little betrayed here, but quickly forgets about it) then mixing in Albeirt to the whole mess. In a surprisingly short time I have summarized my entire horrible experience. "-and I can't just leave them here," I finish.

"Well, you have to save them then!" Jaz says wide eyed.

"Which is why I need you and your prince to get out of here," I say, finally coming to my point.

"But…" but just then she begins fading from view, "I'll have to argue you out of this ridiculous mind set in the fairy tale," she glares playfully at me.

I roll my eyes but can't help but grin too. It's so nice to have Jaz back.

Wait! Curses, I forgot to ask who her prince was! Ah well, I'll find out soon.

**I will bet you **_**anything**_** you cannot guess what the next fairy tale will be. I had the hardest time trying to think of ANY fairy tales that had two princesses who BOTH get a guy, so I had to get creative and use an writer very near and dear to my heart.**


	36. Kiss and Makeup

**Hurry, hurry read! Because I'm not going to ruin the surprise of which fairy tale it is for you just yet! Such a nice looong chapter just for you!**

**Oh and before anyone gets excited about the title, there is no kissing. I just liked the idea, mostly because as a child I found the saying ridiculously confusing, I mean, what does lipstick and eyeshadow have to do with apologizing? And I'm going for confusing, right? Riiiight.**

**Kiss and Make-up**

The fairy tale fades in and I quickly identify it as a forest. Something about all the trees really gives it away. Sarcasm.

I quickly skim through fairy tales where I start off alone in the forest. A lot. I then go through and pick out all the ones that have more that one princess.

Nothing.

How is it that there are just about no tales with double princesses!

I must have missed one.

I carefully skim back through all the forest tales. Nothing. I skim through all the fairy tales I can think of. 12 dancing princesses I suppose, but we already did that!

Albeirt must have pulled off a miracle because I can't think of a single fairy tale that involves two female and male leads!

Where's Albeirt. I'll even take Lexi, but I REFUSE to go into this blind!

"Lexi! Albeirt!" I shout into the trees, my voice reverberating off into the dark moonlit woods. They don't show up quick enough for me, so I take another deep breath when suddenly a rustle behind me startles me and sends me coughing on all the air.

I spin around just in time to see Lexi zoom out of the bushes, spinning and swerving dangerously. I am not sure how to take the high pitched noise she is making, but I quickly settle on a happy screech.

I look around fearfully, reasonably certain that anything that can make Lexi this happy cannot be good for me. Fortunately for me, Albeirt follows quickly behind her, ready to translate Lexi screech. He needs only see my look of fear as I watch Lexi perform loop-de-loops to know what I am thinking.

"She's excited that she got a part," he explains.

And just to affirm what he said I hear Lexi twitter above me, "I got a part! I got a part! I'm PUCK!"

"Well, that's just great," I say sarcastically, "I'm sure I would be much more impressed (or fearful) if I had any idea what this fairy tale was!"

It is Albeirt's turn to grin proudly, "Took me forever to find a good one, an we were lucky the curse had it, you're in A Midsummer Night's Dream!"

I stare at him silently, not quite sure how to react. On one hand, it was pretty clever, I'd all but forgotten about Shakespeare. I know what you are thinking, Shakespeare's not a fairytale. Actually, technically, he wasn't a realizer either. I mean, he writes plays! Where every word is scripted. But the fact of the matter is that there was this whole controversy while he was alive about whether his plays should count because some of the council really liked his plots and they argued that the plays were open enough to interpretation. Of course Shakespeare never got involved, he was never particularly concerned about it, he just kept writing his plays as always. Finally after he died they decided to accept Romeo and Juliet. Well after that they HAD to do 12th Night as well, which opened the doors for As You Like It, then there was no stopping all of them from being accepted. They take up quite a section in the Collection. However, because they were so controversial, they weren't all that common of fairy tales and they sort of faded into the background, overshadowed by all the "Cinderella"s and "Beauty and the Beast"s. Which brings me to the other hand, I have only the FAINTEST idea how this story goes!

Lets see, there's two couples of angst-y teens. The first L… L something, and Hermia? Or was it Helena? Grimm I don't remember any of this! Alright well anyway, then there's this Dimitrius fellow who like's the L guy's girl and the other girl who is the first one's friend who falls for Dimitrius. They all run into the forest where Puck (Oh, curses, LEXI is Puck!) puts a love potion on the first guy who falls for the previously lonely girl, leaving the other guy and the first girl to- no wait, that sounds wrong!

Yeah, I'm confused too. Lets just go with there is a love potion and I don't remember ogre crap past that.

I am pulled out of my thoughts as Lexi comes flying into the back of my head.

BLOODY-

I spin around to see Lexi rubbing her head at my feet. "Settle down! Go find Jaz or something!" I order her.

Ha! I ordered Lexi!

I turn to Albeirt before Lexi can do anything to ruin that moment. I am reluctant to admit to him that I really have no idea what is going on, but… now that I at least know what the tale is… I'm sure it will come to me… "So, what are you doing here?" I ask, sure that if I can keep him talking maybe he'll say something that jogs my memory.

He grins, "I got a part too," he says shyly, yet looking terribly proud. I guess getting a part is something prestigious in here or something. Well I seem to have a starring role in all of these tales and let me say it is not all it is cracked up to be. I smile all the same, "That's great!" I lie. I suppose that's the nice thing about Shakespeare as opposed to all these fairy tales, more parts. "Well, who are you?" I prod.

" Oberon, the fairy king," he grins even wider, "and that's not even the best part!" he says, getting even more exited now.

"No kidding!" I indulge him.

"Adele's the fairy queen, Titania!"

I squeal, loud and girl like. "Albeirt, that's awesome! What are you still doing here?"

He looks at me, suddenly nervous, "I'm shy," he admits. Wow, wouldn't have guessed that one. "Besides, what if you need help or something?" He says worriedly. "What if- 'cause I know this isn't the easiest fairy tale. I'm sorry I shouldn't have chosen such a difficult one, how can I possibly expect you- and for me to just leave you-"

"Albeirt!" I interrupt before he can work himself up too much. "I'll be fine," I assure him, now more certain than ever that I will just have to figure it out on my own. "Now shoo before I have to go find Adele myself," I tease.

"But- But what do I say?" he says nervously, "I'm going to do something stupid again and she'll think I'm some sort of-"

"Albeirt," I say slowly, "Just go up to her and start off exactly like you did with me, mention how you and Lexi are really excited to have a part, maybe make a joke about how Lexi-"

"Joke!" Albeirt flusters, "But- but I'm not funny! And it's so much easier to talk to you than Her. You're- you're just like another guy. I say something stupid around you and you'll make fun of me and it's done with, but, what if what if-"

"Gee, thanks Albeirt," I say flatly. "I just love being told that I'm not feminine enough."

"See!" he says, turning red and practically at the end of his rope. "What if I say something like that!"

"Well then don't!" I chuckle, trying to make some light jokes and settle him down again. "Look, two things every girl likes to hear, just tell her she's pretty and ask her if she needs help with anything. Can you handle that?" I say slowly.

"Yeah, pretty, help, pretty help, I- I can do that," Albeirt says a little more calmly.

"Good, and if you run into anymore trouble come find me," and with that I push him off in the direction of the woods.

"Alright, thanks! Pretty, help, pretty, help," he mumbles as he starts walking off.

"And having trouble thinking of a conversation starter doesn't count as an emergency!" I call after him.

Grimm, am I glad I'm not a PAB. I'm pretty sure I would go crazy.

I sigh. What's next?

I suppose I should go find-

"Donovan!" I shout, caught by surprise as, speak of the villain, he walks right out of the bushes.

Donovan looks up, not expecting to see me there I suppose, though I will bet anything the curse redirected him around to arrive here at this exact moment. He looks at me, back at the woods, at me one more time then turns quickly to leave without even saying a word.

My stomach sinks, but I quickly move to catch him, "No, no- Donovan!" I trip forward and manage to catch him by the arm. He doesn't even turn to look at me but he stops at least. I have to scramble around him to at least see his face and even then he won't make eye contact.

His face is impassive and yet again I find myself wishing I knew what he was thinking. "Donovan," I say slowly, for once, at a lack for words.

"Look, I- I was thinking, I was practically ripping out my hair trying to figure out why I was so frustrated and tired and angry and why I wanted to kill you and myself at the same time." The words just start tumbling out and I'm not even sure what I'm saying anymore. "And I start to realize, and I'm not even sure when it happened, but we were joking around in Rapunzel and it was so much fun, it was easy and- and then it hit me that we were friends but I haven't been treating you like one, I've been a troll myself, but you've got to forgive me because I was crazy with lack of sleep and stress and- and- please, I just want to be friends again." I look up at him with a small smile.

His face hasn't changed. I feel a small inkling of doubt.

"You're sooo preetty, Dairson, what can I possibly do to help you," he whispers quietly, the straight line of his mouth forming into a little smile.

I grin widely. He's back.

"You heard that?" I chuckle. Taking the arm that I had yet to release and pulling him farther back into the clearing.

He just smiles this self-satisfied smile, "Yeah, I heard. Is that really the secret to winning over any girl?"

"Sure, I suppose," I shrug, "or at least it sure sounds good, right?" I grin.

"How about you? Are you just that easy to charm?" Donovan prods.

"Didn't you hear the rest of that conversation?" I say wryly, "I'm not much of a girl anyway, so I don't count," I chuckle.

Donovan says nothing for a moment, then, suddenly, "Thank you."

"For what?" I shrug.

"I'll let you decide," he says with another infuriating grin.

"Oh you jerk!" I shout, punching him playfully. "Fine," I pretend to pout, which is really much more difficult when I can't seem to stop smiling.

This mess is finally starting to look at least a little brighter.

"Alright, have you seen Jaz's Prince yet?" I say, getting just a touch more serious.

Donovan's face darkens instantly, "No have you?"

I instantly feel like I am being lied to. Now, don't get angry. I'm sure there is something I am interpreting wrong or something I just don't know yet.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" I ask, trying to say it jokingly.

"Nothing, nothing," he says dismissively. Really making this harder. "That Albeirt, seems kind of scatterbrained don't you think?"

"I'm sure if you'd be too if you were stuck in here controlling piles of puppets for who knows how long," I say quickly, eager to get back on the topic he is trying to navigate away from. He's hiding something and I'm going to find out what it- I stop myself, or at least reign in the curiosity a little. Step lightly, we don't want to make this difficult. Curse it, friendship is not supposed to be this delicate!

"Is there something you're not telling me?" I repeat slowly, "Something you don't think I should know?"

Donovan looks at me carefully, "Yeah." He nods, one word answer.

I make a face. I take a deep breath and try to relax before I scream.

Fine, we'll do it his way. I'll drop the subject, it's not worth the argument.

"So new topic then…" I say, skimming through the ever present list in my mind to decide what is next on my agenda.

"What fairy tale is this?" Donovan asks, saving me the trouble of transitioning.

"Midsummer Night's Dream," I say with a look.

Donovan makes a face, "You are kidding right? That barely counts as a fairy tale."

"Well, it's not my fault! Besides, how many fairy tales with two pairs can you think of?" I challenge, "we are lucky Albeirt was able to find this!"

"Well then who are you and what's going on?" Donovan teases, knowing perfectly well that I remember just about as much of this ridiculous play as he does.

"Yes well…" is all I manage.

"You don't even have a name?" Donovan insists.

"Well how about you?" I say defensively.

"You were the one who just talked to the puppet master, Dairson."

"Wouldn't help anyway."

"How d'you figure that?"

I sigh. "I can't remember which one does what," I admit.

"Well, there's a Hermia and a Helena-" Donovan starts.

"And which is the one that starts out with the guy she loves hating her?"

He pauses, "Ummm, the other one?"

"Exactly," I make a face. "Alright, so lets just say for the sake of trying to figure out the plot that Helena is the first and Hermia is the one running off to elope."

"I'd switch it," Donovan suggests.

"FINE, Hermia is the first and Helena is the one running off with…" I look pointedly at him, waiting for him to fill in whoever the girl is running off with.

"You want the guy names now? I can't just give you all the answers, now can I, Dairson, then how would you learn?" Donovan says mock exasperated.

"Fine, Dimitrius and Benvolio," I say picking the first two Shakespeare names that come to mind.

"Well, if you're going to guess a B might as well make it Borachio," Donovan amends.

"We've screwed it up bad enough and we haven't even reached the plot, does it really matter?"

"I think it was something like a lizard," Donovan says, determined to get it right.

"No, it was more like a newt," I say, the reptile reference jogging my memory a little. Give me a break it was all the way back, freshman year.

"Salamander-"

"Lysander!" we say practically at the same time.

"I got it first!" I quickly sing out, sticking my tongue out teasingly.

"Nonsense, you should get your ears checked, I had it years before you," Donovan says, giving me a playful shove.

"You're just a sore loser," I flip my hair back and hold my chin up high.

"So which guy goes with which girl, Miss Gracious Winner?"

I falter, "Doesn't matter," I shake my head. "The most important thing I suppose would be that we must be the first pair that aren't running off to elope because other wise we would start off together right?"

"Makes sense," Donovan shrugs.

"Exactly," I nod, "So…" I say, straining to remember what that means comes next.

Donovan fills in for me, "So I think that means we argue and I lose you then I go to sleep at some point, so that the love potion can get dripped on my eyes."

"Sounds like as good a plan as any," I shrug.

Neither of us move. We just stare at each other in silence for a while.

"I am sorry," Donovan says suddenly.

I smile a little, as much as I feel like I don't deserve an apology from him at the moment, it is nice to hear him say it. I can hear the pride in his voice, momentarily pushed aside to say those simple two words and really mean it. For everything.

"I meant it when I said that I would rather at least be friends than anything else, Dairson." My last name struggles out of his mouth, as if forced out as an afterthought, and the look in his eyes, that unreadable look of his that he had while he said it, well, it was rather unnerving, it was too intense.

"Of course!" I say, punching him playfully on the arm, and quickly add, "Alright, see you soon," before I hurry off into the woods. I almost trip and smack into a tree in my hurry but I am quickly out of sight and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

If you were to ask me what it was exactly that unnerved me so much back there, why I felt like I should leave quickly before anything else happened, I couldn't tell you. Only that I was afraid of what would happen if I didn't run off quick, and let's leave it at that.

**Shakespeare! Yes indeedy, the next fairy tale is ****Midsummer Night's Dream****. And for those of you not familiar with The Bard's work I suggest you either go read spark notes or get over it. As far as traditional fairy tales go the only one I or anyone else seemed to think of with two princesses was ****Snow White and Red Rose****, and can you really tell me that is more appropriate than the beautifully chaotic madness that is Shakespeare? NO! When I thought of MND it was just so unbelievably perfect... so yeah. And if you don't normally like Shakespeare(*beats head against desk*... ahem, sorry, that's better) then I promise you ought to still find this amusing. I promise I don't suddenly start talking old English or writing in iambic pentameter... until a few more chapters.**


	37. The Other Prince

**I am ridiculously busy this month, my teachers are trying to kill me even though they know Hell Week starts this Monday for the play, but it feels like it started early! It didn't help that my mom was on a cruse last week and I had to handle dinner and such (curse my new driver's license!) though to be honest I would prefer she hadn't come back because now she still wants to be treated like she is on a cruise! Yeah, so that's my excuse for last week and why I am sorry if I can't reply to reviews and such this week! But of course you don't care to hear about my mess of a life, because the mess that Elle has gotten herself into is MUCH more interesting!**

**Oh, but I have to mention, we finally hit those changes I mentioned. Oh YEAH, those things you thought I had forgotten! Well, no. In order to make a bit more of a villainous presence I've had Elle see a black blur before things start to go wrong and she has begun to associate them with the glitches. Kindof sortof important for this chapter... yeah. Thank you!  
**

The Other Prince

I wander around the forest, grateful for the bright moon provided courtesy of the curse. Though honestly it only helps me so much, me being, as usual, deep in thought. I don't really care in which direction I am going, I trust the curse to just redirect me where ever I am supposed to go once I have wandered a sufficient time.

I barely register the sound of running water, well, actually I don't register it until I almost step right into the creek. I look up startled by the sudden change in surroundings. I figure if it's different I should probably pay attention to it. I peer around trying to make out anything really specific in the grayish light and all the leaves. I guess I should be looking for something remotely human shaped, either Jaz or her unknown Prince. "Who Donovan refuses to talk about," I remind myself bitterly, yet again his motives elude me and cause me only more frustration. Suddenly the pile of leaves on a tall rock shifts a little bit, bringing my thoughts back to an abrupt attention.

Oh good, I found somebody.

I hurry over to the person and quickly notice a distinctly male build. Finally the elusive Prince who everyone but me seems to know!

"Excuse me!" I tap him, without even thinking, just eager to meet him. I realize too late that I probably could have put off (for a little while at least) whatever nonsense this love potion thing, that has surely already infected him, is going to cause. In fact I am so busy berating myself that it takes a full second more than it should to recognize the very NOT brown hair, and the very familiar face. I swear my heart stops beating for a moment and my stomach does a swan dive for my toes.

Anthony.

"Elle," he says, with a sleepy sort of smile. Nothing more, nothing particularly witty, nothing sweet or funny or flattering. Just Elle, but the way he says it could just turn me to a puddle right then and there. And his smile…

Curse it.

"Anthony." It's all I manage out, not even comprehending why in the world he is here. It's the same feeling from Cinderella when I just couldn't possibly understand why Donovan was there. But… but Albeirt said-

'That Albeirt, seems kind of scatterbrained don't you think?' Donovan's voice leaps unbidden to my memory.

I run. I turn around and run, because maybe if I run fast enough it will never have happened. I can just forget about it and find that brown haired guy-

"Elle!" I hear again behind me, but this time it is more shocked. I hear running behind me but I have to keep running I-

I stumble into a wide clearing. Curses. I dart behind the nearest tree and just hope that he won't find me. I hear him stumble into the clearing moments later.

It's not him. It's not him. It's not him.

I peek around the tree, but sure enough I see blond hair over that handsome face, no matter how much I will it to be anyone else.

I groan and slide down the tree to land with a thump in the leaves. All the excitement and hope that I had built up earlier rushes out of me and then some, all crushed into little tiny pieces. I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me.

I just sit there rather breathless when Anthony peers around the side of the tree.

"Why are you hiding back there?" he asks sweetly, not even waiting for the answer that I would probably never manage anyway he grabs my arms and pulls me up and back into the clearing. I am walked over to a fallen tree and sit down heavily. Not sure if I can do much more at the moment.

"Dearest, loveliest, sweetest love," Anthony kneels down in front of me and I cringe. Oh the curse is just mocking me now, this is beyond cruel.

"No!" I manage out, almost as powerfully as I wanted. Almost.

Anthony just smiles kindly like I have just done something funny or cute.

I take a deep breath, "You are Jaz's Prince, Jaz!" though I am not sure if I am saying it more to him or myself.

"Her?" Anthony looks almost disgusted, "That toad. Why would I ever-"

Well that snaps me out of it right quick.

"You watch your mouth!" I snap, eager to find something, anything to be angry at him for, because it is a lot easier that way.

"My love, you are far more beautiful than her. It would be like to compare a perfect rose to a weed, a dove to a raven, the glorious sun to the rain," Anthony says with a smile.

I cringe, wow, can that love potion do bad things to a person's mind. That was just… yeah, bad.

"Actually, I rather like ravens and rain," I say quickly, "Besides, it's just the curse that is making you say these things, I-"

I fade off into silence as Anthony takes a step closer, the softest look on his face. He raises a hand to my cheek and I start to breath faster.

Jaz. Jaz. Jaz. Not me. Not me. Not me. Not-

He is making it VERY difficult for me to find the will power to push him away.

"Elle," he says quietly, "don't think about her, just us."

I melt.

No, you can't blame me! You KNOW how long I have wanted him to pay attention like me to this. Though I'll admit when I'd imagined it, it'd been a little less gaudy and cliched, his lines had been a bit… smoother, but I look into his beautiful blue eyes and… he's just so perfect, and he finally wants me, and…

I am so pathetic.

It is actually this realization more than anything that helps me push him quickly away.

"No, no, no, no-" I repeat firmly to him… and myself. "No!" I shout finally and sprint away. I crash through the trees every moment wanting to turn back. Just maybe one kiss, just a little one. Just to know what it would have been like. No one would ever-

I mentally hit myself, no, no, no, no NO! Bad Elle, you are a good friend, you are a very good friend, Jaz is your best friend!

I stop finally, leaning on a tree and panting, out of breath. The adrenaline in my system still making my hands shake.

GRIMM! Why does this have to be so hard! It just HAD to be him, it just HAD to be this fairy tale! Grimm, what am I going to do?

I collapse in a rather pitiful pile on the ground.

"He couldn't have warned me!" I shout frustratedly, of course meaning Donovan. "No, he just had to be so… stupid and… and… secretive and keep this from me!" my hands finding their way to my hair and I tug it anxiously.

_Continuing your training._

The traitorous thought circles back to the front of my mind again. Suddenly I feel betrayed. Not angry like the last time. Betrayed.

Why that is suddenly the most prominent emotion, I'm not sure. I groan. I rub my temples, trying to calm myself down some.

"Calm, calm," I murmur to myself. If Donovan can reign in the pride, I can certainly control my emotions. Again I struggle to understand why Donovan did what he did, he… he was trying to… protect me… or something. I finish lamely. Trying to fulfill that hero complex of his. Protect me from things that were none of his business protecting me from!

I sigh. Letting off all the steam I seemed to manage to collect so quickly. I might not like it, but at least it made sense. Maybe… maybe at least I am starting to understand him a little better, even if I don't like the reasons. At least it's a step in the right direction, and I suppose he had good intentions. I'll just have to get it straight with him what, exactly, he is ALLOWED to intend.

That came out wrong!

You know what I mean! Knock some of those heroic delusions out of him and replace them with some common sense. I don't need saving.

I manage to smile a little bit. I think the time between getting angry at him and forgiving him is getting shorter. I'm getting better at this. Though rest assured will he get an earful when I find him next!

I relax back against the tree, ready to move my mind onto my next problem, Anthony. Dear Grimm, what can I possibly be expected to do about that. I consider, for a moment, indulging Donovan and letting him pretend to be some white knight and asking him to keep Anthony busy and away from me, but I quickly dismiss the idea disgustedly. I refuse to take the cheating easy way out, I am stronger than that. I sigh, gazing sadly at the leaves above my head.

Suddenly the flash of black, that rapid movement too fast to track, except this time I do. I start up abruptly, ready for whatever skips or breaks or messes the curse can throw at me, when my eyes land on the glitch, hanging form the branches, it's claws holding it upside-down and it's misty tale swishing in a predatory way.

I glare at the thing, hiding my surprise at finally seeing it clearly inside of the fairytale; but as it continues to just hang there, perfectly still, I start to feel that the only reason I am seeing it is because it wants me to. An unsettling feeling indeed.

"Get out of here!" I attempt to sound powerful but my voice cracks against my will as my hands grope unsuccessfully for a stick or a rock to emphasize my threat. I don't dare take my eyes off the glitch to look, so I just settle for waving my hands. I struggle to my feet, but as soon as I take a step forward the thing dashes off, a black blur quickly lost in the night.

I shiver, suddenly cold. I need to find someone else…

I wander off quickly, eager just to move. Suddenly I hear yelling. I am suddenly worried that this most recent glitch has brought some new problem with it, I break into a run, trying to follow the yelling, not quite able to make out any words but positive that it doesn't bode well.

I break out into the first clearing, instantly recognizing it and it's occupant. "Jaz," I say slightly relived once I spot her blue head. Oh no, blue, her upset color. "Jaz you okay?" I ask quickly.

"I can't find him!" she moans, turning to me, her worry practically weighing down the air around her. "Elle, he just ran off!" she flusters.

I calm instantly. Nothing is out of place, in fact, if I remember correctly (which, there is always the possibility that I don't), it is going just according to the plot. Anthony runs off and Jaz wanders after him.

I try to smile comfortingly at her, though inside guilt it eating me up. It's not even my fault that he ran after me! Technically it's not even his fault. It's all the curse's fault! I feel guilty anyway, guilty… and jealous. No, shut-up!

"It's okay," I try to assure her; "We'll find him. He has to turn up soon anyway," I mutter to myself. Jaz doesn't look calmed, and she just turns back to the trees.

I sigh; I hadn't realized how much Jaz liked Anthony already. Here she's apart from him for what couldn't even be an hour and she is already so worried for him she can hardly think of anything else, but I guess that's Jaz for you, always worried about everyone else.

"Donovan!"

I jerk back, caught off guard by her sudden shout. Did I just hear wrong? I blink at her in confusion. What?

But no, sure enough she calls it again, this time beyond clear about who she means, "Donovan, my dear, come back to me!"

I stare blankly at her a moment, my brain rushing to find an answer.

So I guess that's what the glitch was. Jaz accidentally got infected. Well, that could cause a few problems… Curses!

I rush over and grab Jaz's shoulders, spinning her around to face me. "Tell me you did not just call Donovan 'your dear'," I demand, hoping, pathetically, that for once, something might just be easy.

Jaz looks at me apologetically and for an instant I get to hope that she is about to take it back, "I'm sorry Elle," she says with a dreamy smile, "I know you have that thing with him, but we're in love, I'm sure you understand."

"I do NOT have a 'thing' for him," I protest instantly.

"Oh good, then you won't mind!"

"No, no!" I order, "Jaz, get a hold of yourself!" I shake her lightly but she just wiggles right out of my grip.

"Oh Elle, please don't be jealous-"

"I'M NOT JEALOUS!" I practically shout. "I just… I just need you to stop this nonsense. You like Anthony now, remember? Donovan turned you down, and he was a big jerk about it!" I say, seeking something to remind her, but I can tell real quick none of it is getting through.

I groan and look around desperately as if the answer to all of my problems will just drop out of the trees, but of course, no luck there.

Right. "Hey Jaz," I call with a sickly sweet smile, walking over calmly and grabbing an arm. "Donovan told me that he is going to be coming back here. Right here," I say, leading her quickly to a rock to sit on, "So, you should just sit there until he comes, and not move at all from that spot." Thank Grimm the stupid love potion removes all rational thought because obviously I can not lie to save my life. Jaz looks at me in confusion, "But why would he run off?" she asks quietly, as if hurt. No matter how stupid the reason I can't stand to see Jaz with that sad puppy dog face she does so well, so instead of just rushing off to find help I struggle to make up something quickly.

"He, umm, he's just nervous… that he… will say something stupid?" I finish lamely. "But don't worry, he'll come just as soon as he figures out what to say," I smile the fakest I think I have ever smiled and hurry off before I can say something even stupider and then have to beat myself for it.

Oh, Jaz, why are you doing this to me?

I need to find Albeirt, I know I didn't want to bother him, but this is really important. Heck, I would even settle for Lexi! Though seeing as there's perhaps a 50% chance that this is all her fault, I am not quite as eager to run into her.

'Albeirt, Albeirt, Albeirt,' I think forcefully at the curse, just wandering out among the trees and hoping that the curse will redirect me where I need to go. 'Albeirt, Albeirt.'


	38. I'll Handle It

**So it's short this week, sorry! In a bit of a rush, I have to get back to my Imperialism paper. I also kind of might be trying to stretch out the number of chapters that I have hoarded so that I can try and keep updates reasonably consistent... reasonably. The point being that I don't have much time to write so in another chapter or two I could be in trouble... hopefully school will let up a bit soon. Anyway, no Donovan this chapter, but see, he is just resting up for his totally epic appearance in the next chapter. Well, I liked it anyway. But a little Anthony-Adele at least! Hmm... Adony? Anthele? Their name's don't mesh well. XP**

I'll Handle It

It doesn't take me long before I hear the music leaking from the trees and I make for it quietly. It's a light, windy sort of music but very pretty all the same. It leads me right up to the edge of a new clearing, this one much larger than any of the others and containing what looks like the ruins of a small castle. But none of that is what makes me stop and hide in the bushes nearby.

In the clearing, surrounded by little wood fairies, is Albeirt and he, through some unknown charm that I only could guess he possessed, has managed to convince Adele to waltz with him around the clearing. The sight instantly brings one of those irrepressible smiles to my face, the kind you get when you see something so undeniably adorable that it is all you can do to keep from squealing .

I crouch down even smaller behind the foliage, little more than a rustle in a bush. I can only wonder how he managed it. Last I saw him he was a mess, and to look at him now, he looks like a regular Prince Charming. It helps that Adele looks just like a perfect princess dancing with him, smiling all kindly and looking all around resplendent. I can't believe I didn't spot it five miles away, they are so perfect.

Albeirt spins Adele then pulls her back and whispers something I can't make out. Adele smiles shyly, and giggles a little bit.

And I am supposed to break this up? Bloody great.

This is just about every realizer's dream, I couldn't possibly just burst in and ruin the entire mood, it's… it's… it would just be… wrong.

Still in stealth mode, I creep closer, keeping to the trees. I manage to get about half way to my goal when there suddenly erupts a massive rustling from where I had been just moments ago. Adele and Albeirt break apart instantly, looking around nervously as if embarrassed. I glare at the disturbance, ready to kill whoever is there.

And of course, who else could it be but Lexi, the epitome of mood killers, followed closely by Dray.

"Albeirt, we have a big problem," she calls shrilly, tumbling into the clearing completely unaware of what she just disturbed.

"There might have been a slight mistake made," Dray speaks up, looking just as flustered.

Albeirt rubs the back of his neck nervously, flashing a quick apologetic look to Adele, "Uhh, well what-"

"Lexi messed up, and now the second princess-"

"I didn't do it!" Lexi protests indignantly, still looking quite uncomfortable.

"You were the one with the flower!"

"But it wasn't my fault!"

"Guys, what happened?" Albeirt interrupts, obviously eager to solve the problem quickly.

"The second princess got dosed with the love flower and now she is chasing Elle's prince."

"Uhhh," Albeirt says awkwardly, at a loss for words. "Have you asked Elle about it yet?"

They both shake their head furiously, "We were hoping we could just get the antidote from you?" Lexi asks, Dray holding out his hand as if suggesting that Albeirt trust him over Lexi.

"I don't get it until the end," Albeirt frowns and fiddles with his glasses. "Just give me a minute to think," he mutters, casting a forlorn look towards Adele.

I suddenly realize that I am still hiding in the bush for some reason and that now, if any time, would probably be a good time to come out. I struggle quickly out of the bush, stumbling a little because my legs are now numb.

All four heads snap towards me, and I grin widely. Elle to the rescue.

"Albeirt, I was just looking for you," I manage out before I am attacked by Lexi.

"It wasn't my fault! I just found her like that-" she declares, flying at my face.

"Yeah, I know," I assure them, batting her away, "It was the glitches." Albeirt and Adele pale noticeably. I'm not sure if pixies turn a color when they get nervous, but the pair certainly looked uncomfortable.

"So what do we do?" Adele asks, finally speaking up.

"You guys do nothing," I order looking at Adele and Albeirt. "Just get that antidote to Lexi as soon as you get it," I shrug as if it's obvious. Anything to keep those two from getting too concerned. My plans can change easily, sure I'd been hoping that Albeirt could help, but now that I know he can't, what's the point in worrying him, all I have to do is survive. "It's nothing I can't handle," I assure them.

And sure, why not? There will be some madness and a lot of confusion, just like any other Shakespeare play, or as far as I can tell.

"Elle, could I just-" Albeirt motions off a little ways implying that he wants a word alone.

I shrug and follow him behind one of the stone pillars leaving Adele to try and reassure the still anxious pixies.

"So, what?" I shrug, trying to stay nonchalant.

"Elle, you can't really- I'd feel terrible leaving you to handle all of this yourself! Surely there is more Adele and I can do to-"

"Albeirt, just shush and take the free time I'm offering you, just a thank you would be fine," I tease gently, but Albeirt doesn't look satisfied.

I roll my eyes seeing that I'll actually have to reveal my real reasons, "I saw you two dancing together," I smile mischievously at him, instantly he turns bright red all the way up to his ears. "I'm trying to give you two some extra time together," I explain.

"Thank you," Albeirt mutters grudgingly, so quietly I can barely hear him.

"Yeah, yeah," I smile in a very self satisfied sort of way. "And see," I add before he can sneak back off, "I knew you had it in you, you must be quite the charmer, because from what you told me Adele never dances," I remind him grinning widely.

Albeirt blushes even more furiously if possible, "Actually, she asked me," he admits. I can't help but grin so much by this point my jaw is practically falling off. Isn't that just like Adele?

I get that warm fuzzy feeling you can only get from knowing you have set up two people absolutely perfect for each other. And this time it's that real thing, I'm sure. I don't want to hear a word about my first attempt…

"Don't worry," I pat Albeirt on the back before we split up, "I'll, handle it, don't you worry."


	39. Close Your Eyes

**Hiya lovelies! Sorry about the wait, but I have to say, thank you for all the wonderful reviews that kept coming anyway, they made me so warm and fuzzy! And now, as I promised, Donovan! And a tree...**

Close Your Eyes

So now I am off wandering in the woods, wondering what in the two worlds "I'll handle it," actually involves. If it were up to me I would just try my best to avoid everyone and all this "love" madness until it all blows over, but of course it's not really up to me anymore is it? I'd say I have about as much control over what happens to me in here as a house cat does, oh sure I like to pretend everything will bow and scrape to my whims, but I know it's not really true. So the only thing I can do for the moment is keep walking and hope that I stumble across someone sane, and at the moment it is looking like the only sane ones left are me and Donovan. I really hope I find him first, I need a good dose of sarcasm and cynicism, as cute as Albeirt and Adele are, and even though Jaz and Anthony are my friends, I'm almost surprised all of this hasn't made me sick yet, I mean-

Ooof!

I fall back on my butt, as yet again, with all my grace, I mange to have walked right into something and bang my head. I swear the tree just jumped out at me!

"Ahg," I mutter as I glare up at the offending tree, I swear the thing is laughing at me. Trees seem to hate me in here, honestly, first the Cinderella tree and it has only gone downhill from there. In fact I will bet anything this is the same bloody tree. I can just tell by the self satisfied way it is rustling it's leaves.

I am not crazy.

"I hope someone chops you down and turns you into toothpicks," I mutter, pulling myself back up. The tree rustles, almost as if in response. I roll my eyes, I miss the real world, where overgrown shrubs can't hold personal vendettas against you.

Suddenly, I hear something loud and undoubtedly metal, clattering down through the branches. I dive for cover, sure that the tree is trying to drop a sword on top of me.

I scramble gracelessly back through the leaves on my hands and knees and only turn around when I hear the decidedly metal object thump down a safe distance behind me.

I peer up at the foliage, wary of any more attempts on my life, but the cursed tree is faking innocence at the moment and looks perfectly calm for the moment.

"You missed!" I address my foe.

The tree only grumbles in response, or however a tree would grumble.

I glare suspiciously at my leaved opponent for several more moments until I finally come to the conclusion that nothing more is going to happen. Well, this of course piques my interest of what exactly was almost dropped on me.

Skittishly, I edge my way towards where I heard the object drop and spend another few minutes searching around for it among the leaves.

Finally, my hand brushes against cold metal and I grip it victoriously, quickly pulling it up to my face for a closer examination.

What I see is rather unsatisfying. I had almost been hoping for a knife. I mean, while it would mean that the tree was trying to kill me, I would finally have some sort of weapon, and just to hold one is comforting. But no, it's only a small dull old circle of brass or something. I rub it a bit and notice some worn metal workings on the outside. A ring then.

It had sounded bigger on the way down!

I sigh disappointedly at the bit of jewelry. "I appreciate the thought but I think I have a few more problems than my accessories," I call up to the tree, rolling my eyes.

The tree rustles and please don't ask me how I know but it sounds distinctively like the tree is frustrated at my lack of understanding.

"Yeah, well," I shoot back, "you can't drop just go about dropping things on people and expect them to know exactly what you mean!"

Grimm I am arguing with a tree. How did I ever come to this?

The tree rustles some more, branches waving furiously like there is a gale blowing around up there, but I get nothing more out of it.

"Well, fine!" I declare finally, "I don't have the time or the patience for this right now, so I'll tell you what. I'll come back when you start feeling like giving more straightforward and decisive clues!"

The tree gives a creaking sigh, but accepts defeat to my obliviousness as I shove the ring on my finger. Though of course it is much too big and threatening to fall off the moment I forget about it. "Couldn't have even given me one that fits," I mutter, as sure enough the ring slides right back over my knuckle. I try a few other fingers, but end up just admitting defeat, shoving it on my thumb, and stomping off again on my original course.

Bloody, stupid tree, with its cursed useless jewelry and metal what-not and- Whoa!

I am startled, as in less than a yard I suddenly find myself at another clearing. I had grown rather used to the typical pace of this tale. Wander, clearing, event, repeat. There is definitely some extra wandering in there that I still have yet to do, but of course the tree screwed up the whole thing with its blatant disregard for established patterns by not being in a clearing. I almost turn around to wander a bit more before I enter this next clearing if only because I have become appreciative of the reprieve for thought that the long break for wandering affords. I quickly change my mind when the moon brings my attention to the occupant of the clearing.

Thank Grimm it's Donovan! I couldn't say how I can surely identify the lump as him, but I just know that something about it just screams Donovan.

I rush gratefully into the clearing before my brain can catch up with the initial excitement that drives my legs, but one very important observation of the situation brings my approach to a screeching halt.

He is asleep, and if there is one thing I have learned the hard way in this curse, it is that it is a bad idea to wake a sleeping person in this tale.

Curses! I had wanted to avoid this as long as I could! It's bad enough with Anthony, I can only imagine the terror of a love sick Donovan.

I groan and rub my hand over my face, great, just bloody great.

Here I had been hoping to discuss tactics or at least chide at him for not warning me about Anthony, but in this state, he'll be completely useless!

I close my eyes and pace in a tight circle, willing myself to come up with a brilliant idea.

My circles get even smaller and my head is starting to hurt I am pressing it so hard, as if hoping to squeeze an idea out of my poor brain, but no luck. I sigh and relax back into just standing. I might just have to accept defeat. I think it's unavoidable. I groan and drag myself reluctantly over to shake Donovan awake.

Donovan stirs, responding slowly to my persistent prodding. At the last minute, and I mean absolutely last second, I am struck with a sudden inspiration. Quick as the thought skims through my head my hands are over his eyes, "Don't open your eyes! Don't open your eyes!" I repeat, practically shouting it I am trying to get it out so quickly. Please don't let this have been too late, please…

"Don't open them, don't open, don't open!"

"Elle?" Donovan asks groggily, struggling against the unexpected pressure on his face.

"Keep your eyes closed!"

"They're closed, they're closed," he assures me, propping himself up on his elbows. "What's this about?"

"You've probably been dosed with the love potion," I warn him, still not removing my hands from his vision.

"And you figure it won't take effect till I see something," he finishes for me, "clever."

I nod, but realize he can't see me. Whatever.

"I'm going to remove my hands now, okay?" I caution him, just in case.

Donovan nods, and I pull my hands away a little.

"And now I'm going to hit you!" I shout, just barely a useful warning as my hand lands lightly on his cheek in the next instant. "What exactly did you think you were trying to pull, mister?" I demand, but nowhere near the same intensity I might have had a few fairy tales earlier.

Donovan grimaces, "I take it you found out about Anthony?"

"I found out about Anthony," I affirm. "Did you think I would never find out? What could have possibly been going through your mind that you had thought it'd be a better idea to NOT warn me?"

If his eyes weren't closed I am sure they would be darting around, but he can only open his mouth as if waiting for an answer to come out. "Dairson, you know I think everything through before I do it, unlike _some_ people who are ruled by their emotions," he says pointedly, "Can't you just accept that I had decided at the time that it was the best option?" His closed eyes attempt to stare pleadingly but it doesn't accomplish anywhere near the same effect.

I snort, "Come on, you are going to have to think of a better lie than that! I'm very angry at you, so you had better work cursed hard for this excuse! Now try again."

"Yeah, I didn't really think that would work either," he admits with a sigh.

"Well?" I demand impatiently.

"Uhh, you were smiling and I didn't want to be the one to end it?" he tries.

"You jerk! You brute! You troll!" I cry, losing patience and just skipping to the part where I call him names and punch his shoulder.

"Ouch, careful there, any harder and I might actually feel it," Donovan teases gently, realizing he's not in trouble so much as I need someone to take out my frustration on.

"You are beyond insufferable!" I grouch, standing up off of my knees.

"Dairson!" Donovan reaches blindly for me, realizing that I have moved away.

"Shut up and listen," I order, "Since you seem to have a hard time figuring it out, we are going to lay down some rules! First, when I ask for something, you don't withhold information for whatever reasons your twisted mind can think of. Second, and I don't want to have to repeat this one yet again! I am not a damsel and you are NOT my knight in shining armor, so stop pretending to be!" I know that he's probably not going to listen to any of this, I know that this is completely futile, and I might as well be talking to a brick wall for all that this is going to affect the way Donovan acts, but it at least makes me feel better to try. "I'm not sure how else to get this through your thick head! So stop trying to treat me like I'm useless and just treat me like a friend, damit!"

Don't worry, I didn't miss the irony of that statement either.

I drift off, not sure what else to say beyond that.

Donovan lifts himself off the ground and somehow manages to turn his face right at me. "You done?" he asks with a small smile.

I nod in defeat, "Yeah, I suppose." I know it was unfair to yell at him, but I'm only human, and an over loaded one at that. I… I need someone other than me to share the blame before I crack under the pressure, crushed beneath the whole bloody weight of the world!

"So I'm supposing you know about Jaz?" I ask quietly, transitioning into the next topic.

Donovan cringes, "Yeah, I was talking to her one minute and the next she was all over me."

"So you ran," I finish for him.

"Yeah."

"Fair enough, then just one more question: What in the two worlds possessed you to fall asleep!" I demand.

He shrugs, "I didn't have much choice in the matter, I was just walking and suddenly I could barely even see straight."

"Excuses, excuses," I roll my eyes, but it's an acceptable answer anyway.

"So what are we going to do about her?" I ask, getting to the heart of the matter.

"That shouldn't be too hard I suppose," he shrugs.

"Well then why don't you reveal your wisdom, so the rest of us ignorant folk don't have to try and read your twisted mind?" I drip sarcastically.

"What was that?" Donovan starts, glancing blindly around before realizing it is useless and just looking to me for an answer.

"What are you talking about?" I mutter, slightly annoyed, "there's nothing-"

Suddenly I hear it too. A crashing through the forest, the kind only a love struck oaf can make, and sure enough, moments later, who should come careening out of the foliage but Anthony.

I groan, "It's Anthony," I say for Donovan's sake.

"He's been dosed?" Donovan whispers quickly for confirmation.

Anthony's eyes seem to finally adjust to the sudden bright moon light, and he spots Donovan and I standing conspiratorially together. "You!" he cries, infuriated, and rushes without even a moment's thought right at us.

"Donovan, look out!" I grab his shoulders and try to move him, but he's too large, I'm too small, and Anthony is too fast. He comes crashing bodily right into Donovan's back.

I cringe, and then curse as I see, as if in slow motion, Donovan's eyes jerk open. Instantly his face is mutated into a love struck, flirtatious sort of smile, and all the while I am falling, falling backwards through space. Suddenly time catches back up and the earth comes rushing up to crush me, windless, between the dirt and a wall of muscle.

I can't breathe. I can't think.

I spend a short eternity in this state before the instant passes and I register Donovan's face, inches from mine, that self-assured grin on his lips. Against my will, my mind suddenly flies back to Goose Girl. Curses! I had been successfully blocking that memory up to this point!

Not a word, you. Not a word.

**HAHAHAHA! To tell the truth I hadn't been planning on ending it there. I had been considering just making a really short chapter that ended after the tree, or giving you the whole bit after this, but when I measured the page length it convniently ended right there and it was just so perfect! See you next week!!! XD**


	40. What Makes You So Special?

**OHHH, are you gonna like this one! I'm totally proud of it, fresh out of my head, just yesterday, and chocked full of love sick harpy goodness! I was experimenting with just a SLIGHT twist in writing style, and I was so happy with the effect. To tell the truth I actually hadn't planned on moving quite as fast as this chapter moved, but as soon as it started moving in that direction it just seemed so perfect! Of course Elle is none too pleased with this arrangement, trying her darnedest to give me a headache in revenge! Well, what are you waiting for, go on and read!**

What Makes You So Special?

We both just lie there for another instant, that's what- two, three instants now that I have been stuck beneath him? Hmm, I see…

I scream.

A shrill girlish scream, yet somehow reminiscent of a harpy about to swoop down and rip someone's eyes out. Before anyone, including myself, knows quite what happened Donovan and Anthony are tangled up in a heap, and I have scrambled all the way to the other side of the clearing. I glare, winded at the two offenders trying to right themselves, fire practically shooting out of my eyes. How… how dare they… anything! They just screwed up- well, Anthony just screwed up- Someone else was going to come up with a plan for a change! Donovan was perfectly rational and healthy! If blinded, but normal at least!

"You fool!" Donovan accuses Anthony, voicing my own thoughts as he finally manages to find his feet. I manage for less than a moment to hope he still has some thought capabilities, but the hope is quickly smashed and then stampeded over by giants with his next words. "You had your chance with Elle! But now, at least, her affections are centered on a more deserving man!"

"I the fool? You are mistook, she's only ever shown you wrath, what should make you think that ever this should change?"

Apparently, the disease has the strange side effect of making you talk in blank verse. And these two, together, are only encouraging each other to talk in progressively more and more ridiculous sentences.

"No! Things have changed, and I am now the better man for her. What can you offer her that I cannot? Your love is but a puddle to the sea of mine. Relinquish your claim, else be prepared to fight!"

The two glare threatening at each other, each equally thick headed and full of testosterone. "Why bother to cross swords when I'm the only one who Elle could ever love!" Anthony declares, apparently able to vouch for me now. "To think that you'd delude yourself with ill placed hopes, lies with lies atop of false disguise. You waited for a chance, but it has come and past and now you'll bow your head and run with tail hung low and thoughts that you have failed, to haunt your dreams and histories!"

By this point, I am just hopelessly lost.

I never was particularly good at understanding Shakespeare, probably part of the reason that I am in this predicament now, but whatever Anthony just said, Donovan looks absolutely winded, crushed. Though, still being Donovan he quickly composes himself and just stares defiantly back. And of course, through all this time neither of them have even glanced my way to get my impression of this whole mess.

Umm, excuse me?

"You troll!" I shout, without even thinking I swoop down on Anthony. "How dare you even think that you have any right to speak for me!" He droops instantly. Meanwhile, I catch Donovan starting to smirk behind me so I swing back at him, just to keep it fair, of course. "And that goes for you too! I don't know what has possessed you two to think you know any better than I do what I am thinking ,when _I_ don't even know what I am thinking anymore!" I blurt out. Donovan has the grace to look slightly ashamed, and he should, after I _just _had this talk with him! Anthony however is staring open mouthed and flabbergasted at me. I frown. "Well what did you THINK would happen?" I stab him with my finger. "Am I really just supposed to sit back and let you two duke it out over what should be unquestionably my decision?" Not that I think I could even make that decision at the moment, I just know that it is mine!

Anthony glances helplessly at Donovan who gives him a look that clearly says he is on his own. So I turn and glare at Donovan too. He of course just smiles at me, cool as a cucumber, "And what are you smiling at?"

"You," he says simply. I narrow my eyes but secretly can't think of a word to say in response to that. Grimm, what is it about that boy?

But after a few more moments of staring I realize that I'm not going to come up with anything to say no matter how much longer I stand there. I growl in frustration and swing back on Anthony who by this point resembles something along the lines of a submissive bowl of jello. "This is all your fault!" I point, "If you hadn't tackled him, he would still be in his right mind- shut up," I order as Donovan tries to protest behind me, "And we could have sat down and worked out a whole nice plan to deal with you and Jaz who shouldn't even be here in the first place and-" I stop abruptly, staring silently at the absolutely miserable looking Anthony. Suddenly I feel absolutely horrible. The poor guy is practically on the verge of tears, all because of what I said? No, that's not right! When I yell he's not supposed to take it to heart, he's supposed to… to sneer and tell me I am being ridiculous or argue right back or stare coolly at me till I can't think of anything else to say or act like… I glance behind me. Or act like Donovan. But he's not Donovan.

The realization hits me like a ton of bricks. He's not like Donovan, who can just smile calmly back at me while I rage around, who knows me well enough to realize when I am just letting off steam, who is strong enough to take everything I can throw at him and then ask if I am done yet. I need that, that's why I need him as a friend but why I still can't help but yell at him. I need someone who I can blow off steam at and they'll think no less of me. Anthony can't do that, and now I have really hurt him. I back up slowly in wordless shock.

I didn't mean to. I didn't want to. I wasn't thinking.

For the second time tonight I turn and run. I don't know what to do anymore or what to think. You can't just plan this sort of problem away! So maybe if I just get far enough away from it it'll go away on its own?

I tumble through the bushes and undergrowth, ignoring the branches that pull at my hair and all that other imagery associated with stumbling through a dark forest. Though, in hind sight, perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention, or at least made a little less noise about it. I imagine that following me would be very easy with all the noise I was making, especially after I twist my ankle on a poorly(or perhaps purposely) placed stone and begin cursing loudly and creatively. Yeah, I would imagine that would make it pretty easy to find me, because who should walk up behind me as I am trying to rub the numb pain feeling out of my ankle, but Donovan. Of bloody course. Of cursed bloody course. Because when the damsel runs off in tears, she is always followed! Except I am NOT a damsel in tears. Grimm I hate this curse!

I focus on getting feeling back in my ankle, a much more successful endeavor than trying to take the feelings out of mind. Frustration at the curse, at myself, flares up and I cling to it like a drowning man, because frustration is so much more straight forward than any of the other emotions and thoughts and fears flailing through my conscience.

Donovan chuckles a little as he looks down on my flustered and tousled form, but I stubbornly refuse to look up and acknowledge him, I just keep muttering to myself and rubbing my ankle. Too many of these problems rushing through my head have Donovan seated and grinning right at the center of them.. so if he wouldn't mind just disappearing for a little bit...

Grinning at my efforts, and completely oblivious to my 'Go Away' vibe, Donovan reaches down for my ankle and offers,"Need some help?"

"Don't touch me!" I shoot quickly, pulling my leg closer to myself and turning my back towards him.

"Elle," he says, completely ignoring my protests and laying his hands on either side of my shoulders instead. I try to shrug him off, with little success... He has big hands.

No, I am so fed up with all this unwanted attention at the moment! I turn around to glare right at him. A bad decision, as I hadn't realized quite how close his face was. I'm sure I turn bright red and I can't stop looking at that grin of his, but I refuse to back down. I straighten my back and purse my lips. "I don't think I care to deal with you at the moment, so why don't you go back and argue with Anthony or... or whatever it was you two were saying back there." I refuse to break eye contact and just keep on glaring to reinforce my point, but of course that doesn't work on Donovan, no of course not! Love potion or not, the sole purpose of his life is to frustrate me!

"You're so cute when you're angry," he says infuriatingly.

"Yeah, well, you're cute when you're walking away from me," I counter scooting backwards.

"I don't do cute well," Donovan informs me with a flirtatious 'look'.

"And there lies our problem," I mutter. For some reason Donovan suddenly seems to think it is a good idea to grab my shoulders again to keep me from scooting back any further. My fist twitches as I remind myself that he is not in his right state of mind and it's just not good form to go around punching mentally disabled monkeys. Well, without warning them first at least.

"I would really appreciate you removing your hands," I say tensely, wiggling out of his grip and standing up before he can even reply. "Look, I know you are completely crazy at the moment, but try to take my feelings into account here, this is ridiculously awkward for me!"

"You don't seem to get it Elle," Donovan says shaking his head and picking himself up, the smile never leaving his face. "For once, I am completely sane. Open your eyes and finally listen to what I am saying, not just what you want to hear!" all the while walking leisurely towards me.

I stumble backwards again, my mind demanding that I get as far away from him as possible, the rest of me traitorously demanding a good reason. What, no! I did not just-

Suddenly, like in some sort of dream there just happens to be a rock wall behind me that I swear was not there previously.

Curses.

So instead of trying to run I plant my feet and set my shoulders, glaring warily at the approaching Donovan. The rest of my mind quickly scurrying to dig up ideas for a new escape plan.

Donovan chuckles again as if I have done something funny. Wait, what? I almost hesitate, before I realize he is right in front of me and there is no time to falter. "How do you do it?" Donovan asks lightly, his lips very carefully forming the words. "On anyone else, this crazy stubborn streak of yours would be almost unattractive, but there must be something about you-"

I can't help but start to feel offended yet flattered at the same time. I'm confused. So much so that I'm suddenly at a loss for how to react when I realize that at some point he had gotten close enough to rest his hand on my waist and is still moving slowly ever closer, and I'm sure the temperature just shot up a few too many degrees above comfortable.

I feel the stone press against my back as my instincts try to meld me through the wall, screaming at me that I take a minute and remember that this is Donovan Erebus. But, so what? Were there any reasons left to hate him? Any reasons why this was so terribly wrong? I can't remember... but those instincts of mine press forward, try to remind me of something...something important... Too bad I can't hear them over the sudden rushing in my ears.

"You are beautiful. You are smart. You have a quick wit. But it's not as if there aren't plenty of girls with that. What is it?" he asks quietly, laying his hand on my cheek , instantly sending heat searing through that spot, "What makes you so special, Elle?"

My heart is beating erratically in my face. I can't think of a single thing to say. In fact, I am pretty sure I'm just gaping silently. The thought butterflies briefly through my mind that, "He is so much smoother than Anthony." And then, he is leaning in closer, closer, his eyes boring into mine, daring me to stop him, to move away, to think-

FWOOSH!

The sudden sound breaks the moment and I start back, wait, when had I even moved forward?

A second noise. Both of our heads snap in the direction of the disturbance and Donovan's arms tighten protectively around me, reminding me that they are still there! Oh cursed-

I struggle out of his grip, just as a third fwoosh flies right between us, demanding our attention. I fly backwards onto the ground, while Donovan turns furiously on the black streak, and of course, there sits a very contentedly grinning glitch, just a few steps away. Donovan looks like he is about to rush it, and normally I would let him, if only because I would love a moment to figure out what in the two worlds just _happened _and because I am completely content to watch Donovan attack something else for a moment_,_ but I catch a glimpse of several more glitches grinning at us from the trees. "Donovan, cool it," I order, I go to grab his shoulder to restrain him, but quickly wrench my hand back before I make contact. Donovan turns to me with a pained expression, but quickly steels his face into that unreadable expression of his.

"What do we do with them?" Donovan asks, as he notes the placement of each glitch. "Can they even hurt us?" The comments come almost as a relief to me, because for the moment it seems he can function almost normally, instead of- I shake my head to try and get my thoughts back on track.

I quickly recall when I'd attacked that one glitch with Albeirt, which just now seems like it might've been a very bad idea. "Yeah, they can hurt us, not sure how bad, but they can scratch at the very least," I say quietly. Now the both of us are trying to keep eyes on all sides of us. "Watch that way, back to back," I order, facing in the other direction myself. The sudden heavy atmosphere of fear does wonders to clear my mind and, for the present at least, relieves me from having to think anything other than clean logical tactics. Though I am careful not to actually touch Donovan's back.

"So what do we do, if not attack them?" Donovan asks quietly. The glitches don't move besides their continued misting, but their feral grins are threatening enough.

"Run?" I suggest simply.

"Which way?"

"Uhh,-" I glance quickly around. "Left," I say decisively.

"Yours or mine?" Donovan checks quickly, though I sure it is just to be difficult, I can almost see the teasing grin on his face even with our backs to each other.

"Mine," I say shortly.

"Right, I thought so."

"Of course you did," I mutter.

"On three, then."

"One-two-three-go or one-two-three?" I retort.

"I said three, didn't I?" Donovan says mock exasperated.

"Just making sure."

"If you weren't so cute-"

"One-" I interrupt him before he can finish that thought and let the love potion make even more of a fool out of him.

"Two-" he responds. Then both of us-

"Three!"

**I am getting better at this suspense thing, if I do say so myself. Well?! I hate to sound anything close to begging but I would really appreciate some feed back on this chapter, what did you like? Was there anything that kind of messed with the flow? I am totally proud of this chapter, took forever to get down but it was fun. **

**In fact, I couldn't help myself from doodling it too. Normally I have a strict, no drawing my own well established characters rule, but it was just a doodle... or was it? It got a mind of it's own too and turned out... well, I was surprised by how much I felt like I hadn't completely screwed up how I saw the characters in my mind. So if you are interested, a little sketch from the author/crazy-psyche patient herself on my DeviantArt- mertleyuts (sorry, it won't let me link).  
**


	41. Not So Epic Battle Scene

**I'm reaaaaally sorry I haven't been posting and I've left you for like two weeks without anything and now all I have to show for it is this measly chapter, but, at least I managed something, right? *sigh* AP Test prep has been killer, thank goodness I opted out of taking that fifth one (though I probably wouldn't even've had to study for the CompSci one, meh whatever) I thank you for your patience and regret that I had to run out of buffer chapters at the worst time in the year! I will not have a chapter for you this Saturday and just to be safe lets say next as well because I will probably be burnt out and brain dead, I'll be lucky if I'm not in a coma! So only two weeks to go and I SWEAR I will be back to weekly updates because none of my classes will matter anymore! YES!!!**

Not So Epic Battle Scene

Donovan tears off to the left and in the same instant I sprint off in the opposite direction. Cheating? Maybe, but it is better for us to have split up, and Donovan was in such a state I didn't want to risk suggesting it and him refusing to listen. Actually, I could see him disobeying me under normal conditions just because he thought it was a silly idea but didn't care to argue. At least this way I get to keep control of the situation and not leave it up to Donovan... that and maybe this time I can properly get away from him?

Oh right, the glitches, you are probably wondering what they are doing.

Well, as soon as we dash off the glitches swoop up in a flurry, all pissed off and indignant, they start up a chatter and then, because it's just my luck, they all fly after me! I curse and pick up my knees, sprinting headlong into the dark. Suddenly, I am struck with a thought, the glitches aren't fighters, they are just bullies. Back in the in-between, as soon as I just stood up and faced them they backed off, so why shouldn't that work again? I skid to a halt and turn assuredly around to face my assaulters with all the stubbornness I could muster, quite a bit.

Not my best idea.

I manage out a squeak before I am suddenly swamped with misty blackness and the strange sensation of having the air snatched right out of my lungs. Oops.

I bat frantically at the air but they seem almost intangible they slip through my fingers so quickly. Can't breathe! Can't breathe! I drop quickly to the ground, hoping to buy myself just a second, just a quick gasp of air. I barely manage that and then they are back and I can feel their little claws on my face and my hair. And now I am rolling around on the ground fighting just to get my next breath of air, and if you say one word about Donovan sweeping in I will shoot you!

My lungs are burning, and my eyes, and my face, and all there is is inky blackness and I can't tell if it is the glitches anymore, maybe I am blacking out- Suddenly there is an enormous crack above and in the next moment I get a face full of leaves but I could care less because suddenly I can breathe and I keep rolling a few more feet away from the fallen branch. I just lay there on my elbows for a moment gasping as I hear the glitches chattering and shrieking above me. I jump to my feet again, ready to hit something. They will not catch me by surprise this time!

I barely give a thought to who or what had rescued me, though I have a sneaking suspicion- The branch that had just fallen on my face is in my hands in a moment and feels oh so wonderfully solid, but the glitches are slightly more cautious this time. We trade glares for several moments, the glitches misting almost thoughtfully as I am careful to keep a close eye on both of them, wait! Where's the oth-

I catch the glitch only an instant before too-late swinging the branch like a baseball bat and solidly knock the devious little beast into the ground, but I have to quickly duck the other two, I can feel the wind as they go zooming past my ear. The glitches make a wide circle and collect their fallen ally which gives me just enough time to break the branch down to a more manageable pole size. Oh, am I ready!

The small wave of glitches breaks. I knock the first with a wide arc, catch the second with the butt of the branch, and just kick at the third with rather less grace but with a perfectly acceptable result.

Suddenly there is a threatening sort of rustling above, and normally I would be scared, except I recognize that rustling, and for once I think it might just be on my side. The glitches bob violently in the air as if frustrated that their fun has just been ruined, and suddenly there is a final fwoosh and the glitches are gone just as suddenly as they appeared (no matter how over used that line happens to be).

I lean heavily on the branch, suddenly jittery and wiped from all of the adrenaline rushing around in my blood. I comb shaky fingers through my hair, pulling out leaves and tangles, and manage to make my way over to the tree before I collapse against it.

"Thanks," I mutter grudgingly to the tree that is now apparently stalking me.

The tree groans back very self assuredly. I can only roll my eyes and hide my head between my knees. Grimm, what just happened? And I don't just mean with the glitches.

Grimm, did I almost- Did Donovan- I was backing away and then he- What would have happened if that glitch had come just a minute later?

No. I'm not going to think any more about it, it was- erm... Donovan was... well it was no wonder all the girls just fell over him! I'd never had the full force Donovan Charm turned on me before, so it wasn't my fault! Though I suppose it wasn't really his either since he was raving mad under that love potion. Because lets face it, there is no chance that he would ever try and kiss me if he was sane- Not that I would want him to! I AM telling the truth, I really am, because I don't want any of this nonsense at the moment! I tell you what this fairy tale has put me off romance for good!

"AGH!" I groan and hide my head between my knees.

And what am I going to do about these glitches? I think, rubbing cheek where they'd scratched it. Grimm I don't know!

I hear a rustling above, but I don't unfold from my miserable heap. Let the cursed tree drop all it likes on me, I'm not moving. Bring it, branches or rings or corsets or whatever else that tree had hiding up in it's foliage. I feel a gentle brush on my shoulder and turn my head just the tiniest bit to catch a glimpse of pale pink gently floating down beside me. I reach gently for the flower and examine the frilly little thing. Maybe it was an accident, maybe I'm being hit on by a tree, but I'll take it as a peace offering. I tuck it carefully behind my ear and lean back to smile wryly up at the leaves. "Yeah, yeah, so maybe you're not as evil as I thought either," I mutter. I spin the ring on my thumb thoughtfully as I stare up, and I swear that I can hear music playing through the leaves.

"What are you trying to tell me, hmm?" I mutter pulling the ring off and fingering the little engravings. I bring the ring up right in front of my nose to try and get a good look at the symbols in the dim light, maybe they tell me something important. I try and hold the ring up to the moon light better and-

"Bloody, Grimm cursed-!" I startle back and bump my head on the tree. I swear I just saw a pair of feet on the ground! I look around but they are gone. The tree is rustling furiously above me, but what just- I peer at the ring oddly and have a sudden thought.

I put the ring up to one eye and look through it feeling rather silly but-

"Grimm, I was starting to think ye would never figure it out."

**Again, sorry, sorry! Please forgive my poor overworked self.**


	42. Arbol Eldershrub

**Hey! So if you haven't realized yet I am actually updating Sundays now. It's just easier that way, and I get the weekend to just sit down and write. Or at least ideally. I am still suffering from writers block and working on building a robot which I have to fit in before school ends, and together they seem determined to keep me from writing. Alas.**

Arbol Eldershrub

I jerk back even more violently this time and bang my head painfully on the trunk, I quickly glare through the ring again and sure enough, there on the bough just above my head sits a man whistling away on a little flute just as content as can be.

"Uh, excuse me?" I try, waving up at him.

He waves his fingers a little at me, but doesn't even pause in his song, refusing to acknowledge his previous comment.

The music is enchanting, even more so than the sounds Albert has rustled up in his little ball. Somehow these have this feeling of true magic, not just what you would _expect_ a fairy song to sound like. I, however, have business to address, things to do and problems to solve, so sorry, but he's going to have to stop.

"Hello up there! I'm Elle, and I'm supposing you wanted to talk to me about something?" I call up briskly

"Well, come on, get a good look, once ye know what ye're looking for ye don't need the Sight ring anymore," He says shortly, his almost-Irish-but-not-quite accent just as musical as his song.

A Sight ring! I almost tear the ring away from my eye to get a good look at it but I do as he says first. He's tall-ish, Donovan's height, maybe? It's a little hard to tell with him sitting down; and he's all in green, loose green jacket, light green pants, elaborate green belt, green earing, green eyes, curly green hair, he even seems to have a green tint to his fingers and toes.

I finish and lower the ring carefully, but sure enough he stays visible now. "Alright, I'm done!" I call back up, hoping he will come down now before I get a bloody cramp in my neck.

"I been waitin' over half yeh're curse, ye can wait till I finish the song at least," he quips dismissively, already returning to his flute.

I frown but take the moment to examine the little metal ring and it's symbols with new interest. I'd never seen a Sight ring before, though I'd heard some about them. They're terribly useful. Looking through them allows you to see things in their magical form rather than just their physical manifestation. This joker in the tree for example, I am supposing he is a tree spirit, and while his physical form is a tree, now that I know what to look for I can see his magical form. I slip the ring back on my thumb, the safest keeping I can come up with for the moment.

I glare up at the branch, is he ever going to be done?

He catches my glare and just smiles back, his round face and thin eyes lighting up in an undoubtedly mischievous sort of way.

"Terribly useful them," he says motioning to the ring and suddenly ending his song. "I'd be sure to keep that one with ye," he says with a wink. Before I can even blink the tree branch just sort of slides lower and I quickly have to scramble over to make room. "Though can't believe ye haven't seen one before, ye kept insitin' you were a Realizer didn't ye? What'd they teach ye there?" he goes on, just chattering right away. "Nothin' useful apparently."

"You're awfully talkative for a tree," I point out grudgingly.

"And ye're awfully dim for the one who's supposed to be getting' us out of here," he chimes back, "I've been stuck alone in that tree so long I prolly still got moss growin' on my arse." he says with a chuckle as if it's all just so terribly funny.

"Excuse me? I figured it out eventually didn't I!" I retort, more than just a little offended.

"Much too long," he insists off-handedly with another light grin.

"How was I supposed to know it was a Sight ring?" I protest.

He pauses thoughtfully as if really considering the answer.

"Guess?" he offers.

I steam like a tea kettle.

"Oh cool off," he says flippantly, leaning back against the tree and fingering his whistle.

"I'm not quite sure how I am supposed to respond to that," I answer coldly.

"I'm sorry, I'll be smarter next time," he fills in for me, with a cheeky grin.

Maybe it's all this practice with Donova, but I don't get angry, I just sigh and sink back against the tree. Isn't it just my luck that this crazy tree would be even less helpful in human form than as it's psychotic woody self?

"Oh perk up, look on the bright side, now ye have me," he says with another flash of his grin.

"Not exactly confidence inspiring," I mutter.

"Oh quit looking like yer tree just got tapped."

"Excuse me?" I jump.

"Molasses? Hurts like nothing else," he nods with mock solemnity.

"Well, I'm very sorry about that and all," I mutter, my mood doing very little to improve. This goofy tree's whole air is doing very little to take my mind off of Donovan. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that he takes insufferable to a whole new level.

"I'm just trying to say it could be worse," he insists, though his very forcefully upbeat attitude doesn't really fit the sympathy his words might otherwise convey.

"Your right," I say rather frustratedly, "I could have two guys chasing me both claiming to be blindly in love with me, and I can't have either, or I could have the glitches getting over confident and attacking me, I could have absolutely no idea how to fix everything, or maybe I could be talking to a thrice cursed, cocky tree!" I shout, loosing my already weak hold on my temper.

He looks unfazed, in fact he just keeps smiling brightly. "Oh, oh, let me try! Ye could be eaten by termites! Or have a very bad case of the flu! Or maybe, ye could be trapped in here for hundreds and hundreds of years till ye loose count then watch yer ticket out of here work herself almost to the point of tears!" he pipes cheerfully.

I'm guilted into silence for a moment. "Yes, well, I suppose that would be pretty bad too. Besides, you don't need to worry about me, I'm not about to cry, crying does nothing useful," I assure him.

"Uhh, wrong, but but a useful mindset for the moment I suppose, if ye insist on it."

Though he doesn't seem to have much to say past that, he just keeps tapping silently with his fingers. I try to think of something to say, but I am just feeling so flustered that I- I...

"Arbol Eldershrub," he interrupts my thoughts with a cocky sort of air.

"Excuse me?"

"My name," he replies as if it were obvious.

"Elle Dairson," I respond, not quite sure what else to say.

"Well?" he asks, as if suddenly waiting for something now.

"Well, that's a very nice name?" I shrug, not really sure what he is expecting.

"Come on, I gave ye my name! Aren't ye going to free me now?" he asks as if it were obvious... oops.

"Well, see,Albeirt and I are still working on- it's not quite that simple-"

"No, no, from this bloody tree!" he insists, "It's starting to chafe, I'm pretty sure I'm alergic to ash, I was raised in a good sturdy oak tree, and this little ash that witch trapped me in in't anything close."

I suddenly recall what we'd learned about tree spirits in class. "Your that witch's familiar aren't you!" I exclaim with sudden curiosity.

"Well what did yeh think I was?"

You are probably getting a bit confused, I will explain. The thing that really sets a witch apart from other magic users is their use of a magical being as a familiar. Yes sure they can have a black cat or whatnot. But often a witch will recruit a tree spirit and harness their power with a wand made from the wood of the tree they trapped the spirit in. Much easier than having to worry about feeding and grooming, though they do have to be wary in thunderstorms I'd suppose. Anyway-

"Well, I'd rather been considering that you were some sort of puppet tree and then- oh, I don't know!"

Arbol breaks out laughing, "The most powerful being in here 'nd ye thought I was some sort of puppet!"

I would actually place my bets on Albert if it came down to who was more powerful but I decide it is probably more to my advantage to just keep my mouth shut in this case.

Arbol quickly quiets, pushing his green curls back with a motion that I would bet anything he had practiced and perfected. "Now that we have managed to establish this fact, when should I be expecting my release?" he says with a bright smile.

"I don't know how," I say shortly.

Arbol's smile becomes decidedly more forced. "Don't know how to thank me? It's nothing really, save pretty girls like ye all the time, just my freedom would be fine," he insists.

"No, don't know how to free you!" I snap, "and if you've forgotten, I was holding my own just fine once I'd gotten the branch."

"Yeh're welcome," he insists infuriatingly. "Now if ye would just-"

"I DON'T KNOW!" I yell, how can I get it through that thick skull of his I don't-

"But yeh've got to! It's not as if I can give ye a hint!" Arbol says edging towards frustrated.

"I'm sorry, but I never took that class!" I cry, "Sorry, I'm so useless apparently, but I know next to nothing about familiars and spell theory!"

Arbol looks moodily at me then quickly picks up his flute and insists on playing very loudly.

"WELL FINE!" I shout over his music, the music becomes louder than I am sure is possible without magic.

I stomp off into the trees. "Well fine," I mutter, "if he wants to throw a bloody tantrum then great but I am not going to stay around to hear it!" I try to convince myself that the music is getting farther away as I walk, but I swear it is getting louder! That thrice cursed bloody tree! I break into a jog.

Suddenly I find myself right back where I'd started, Arbol seated right in front of me. Oh, Grimm cursed, bloody-

Not fair!

Arbol waves at me from his tree and puts the flute back down though the sound still seems to reverberate around for a while. "Still think I'm not the most powerful?" he says with a little smile, his tantrum apparently forgotten.

I am fuming.

"Oh settle down," Arbol shrugs, "couldn't have ye running off just yet, now could I?"

"I don't know what you want from me," I glare at him, "I've already told you-"

"That ye just don't want to help poor little me."

"NO!" I protest quickly, "I just-"

"Yeah yeah, ye don't know," Arbol sighs as if he doesn't really believe me.

"Look, how about I go talk to Albert?" I suggest, now if I could just get away-

"Well, fine, but yeh're taking me," Arbol insists, leaping down from his branch.

"I CAN'T-"

"It's hardly freedom," he stifles my protests quickly, "Take some of the thrice cursed ash tree and I can follow ye around at least," he informs me as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh I'm so glad I get to keep such _lovely_ company with you," I roll my eyes.

"No need for the sarcasm, dear," he grins cheekily, "Yeh'll be glad to have me soon enough."

"You sound so certain," I mutter, as I am anything but. I pick up the branch off the ground nonetheless, it's about walking stick sized I suppose. It'll have to serve.

"Lovely," Arbol insists with a smile.

I mutter under my breath, stomping off in any direction.

"Sorry, didn't catch tha-" he is interrupted as the branch comes swinging towards his face. Oh shush, it wasn't hard, I am understandably flustered here.

Suddenly my target is gone, "Now was that very nice, hmm?" he chides from my other side.

"Perhaps you should just change your definition of nice?" I suggest with a forced smile, and push past him to keep walking.

I suddenly find myself pitching forward to land, winded, on the ground, I turn back to see a large rock that had appeared out of nowhere, three guesses as to why. I glare furiously back at Arbol who is just laughing his little heart out.

"I thought yeh'd see it!" he insists through his laughter. I growl and flip my hair back out of my face, suddenly he is back in front of me offering a hand, "Truce?" he offers, perhaps realizing that I was just considering leaving the branch in right where is had fallen out of my hands. I roll my eyes but accept his hand up.

"Ye ARE awfully unobservant though," Arbol insists with a good natured smile. I make a face.

"Would you please get us to Albert?" I ask, picking up the branch again.

"Ye see, ye see!" Arbol crows, happy to lead the way, "Already ye are glad to have me."

"I wouldn't quite say 'glad'," I mutter.

"Perhaps ye just need to alter your definition of glad?" Arbol shoots back instantly. I frown. "Hey, turn about is fair play," he says cheerily, catching my look.

"That is hardly turnabout," I correct him, "More of using my words against me."

"Close enough," he waves me off, "Come on, come on!" he motions, holding aside branches to hurry me along. I get the feeling he is really excited just to be moving, though if he was telling the truth about being tied to that tree for who knows how long, I'd be pretty grateful just to stretch my legs too. He could use some work on the grateful thing, though.

**I apologize for the rather boringness of this chapter, I personally am not as fond of it as some of the others. About as soon as Arbol showed up is when the writer's block really crashed into me, headfirst. He seemed like such a promising character, I was so excited about making him and then he just had to go and be the most ridiculously difficult character I can ever remember writing! Goodness. Why must guys be so difficult like that! Ah, well, see you next week! And if you are feeling particularly kind hearted you could review and tell me your first impressions of Arbol. I'm trying to decide if I want him to be as jerky as he seems to be coming across...**


	43. A Favor

**I'm sorry guys, but this writer's block is just getting ridiculous! I have reached that point in writing that I've only heard about and dreaded. That point when I feel like everything I have written up to this point is just rubbish. I have no idea where I am going or how to get there. All these shiny new ideas for stories present them selves and just beg to be written, but I CAN'T! Bah. I am trying. Honest I am trying to keep going. I won't give up, I've just hit a wall and it could take some time to climb over it and keep going... So that is my explanation for this sad excuse for a chapter. Please forgive, but at least it is on time.**

A Favor

"Yeah? And was this before of after you were cruelly and deceitfully conscripted into playing familiar for the witch?"

"After, obviously," Arbol informed me, waving his hand at my silly questions. "It'd be pretty hard to torment the witch's daughter without knowin' the witch first."

"But really? Trapped in a ball of thorns AND guarded by a dragon? Where did you even get the dragon?" I asked incredulously.

"Friend of mine, owed me a favor," he shrugged, "Little brat should have expected it! Tried to trim my better side just because it was blockin' her sunlight!"

"Oh come on, but dragon guarded? You couldn't have been more original?" I ask, thinking of a certain spell involving copious amounts of jelly.

"She was always complainin' about how she was never going to get a prince if her mother was a witch and how 'oh wasn't it just so terrible that she wouldn't have a fairy tale?' on and on, enough to drive ye crazy!"

I laugh, "In that case, I will concede, that was the perfect revenge."

I'd found out very quickly that it was easiest to deal with Arbol if you fed his enormous ego and well... it had led to some very interesting conversations. We had a similar vindictive nature.

"You know, I'm starting to think that you are leading me in circles," I accuse lightly as the conversation winds down.

"Triangles if ye must know."

"What!" I shout indignantly, "Arbol! I told you to find Albert, I said-"

"Yeah, but I didn't see what all the rush was about, it's not as if the curse is goin' anywhere."

"Yes, but I would certainly like it to, if it is quite all right with you!"

"Yeah, but he keeps moving!" Arbol whines as if it was just too much to ask of him.

"Don't give me that," I chide, Grimm he can act like such a child! And we know how bad I am with children. "Are you the most powerful being in here or aren't you?"

"Oh, nag nag nag, I didn't hear a single please," he complains.

"Please?" I roll my eyes.

"And ye owe me a favor," he says grinning.

"Since when!" I protest indignantly.

"Since I decided I wanted one?" he shrugs.

"No favors, you have to do something a bit more than that!" I declare, giving him the best angry kindergarten teacher glare I can manage.

"How do ye know this isn't terribly hard?" he grins.

"Because you wouldn't have started it with 'How do you know'!"

"Do ye want my help or not?" he pushes, a wicked grin on his face.

"Is freeing you not enough of a favor for you?"

"I'm not free yet," he insists.

"I told you I am getting to it, I have an awful lot of things on my plate here, Arbol, and if you don't bloody-"

"Elle!"

I swing around to find Albert perched on top of an enormous rock structure dripping with vines and honeysuckle. Albert of course is leaning precariously around the top, almost a story off the ground.

"Albert!" I start, and swing around to glare at Arbol with a look that very clearly says 'And what was so hard about that?'.

Arbol grins and mouths, 'One favor'.

"No, no!" I hiss back at him, "I never said anything that would even suggest- There is nothing to discuss," I finish shortly, with no room for argument in my tone, but he just smiles like I am being silly. "You shush," I order, "Now come on, we are going over there."

"So bossy," Arbol mourns but follows behind, suspiciously meek.

"Albert, what are you doing up there?" I demand, rushing over, using the branch to lever myself up onto the foot of the rock structure he is climbing. "And why isn't Adele here with you!"

Foot, foot, arm. Pull.

"She and the pixies are trying to keep your friends under control," Albert huffed, straining from his position as he reached out for a pale pink flower growing just out of his reach.

I cringe. Great, while I've been running around trying to save my own skin, these guys have been doing exactly what I was supposed to be handling for them. I work extra hard to climb up to him.

Foot, knee, clamber up, hand, whoops! Scramble up to the next safe spot.

"Albert, would you be more careful?" I plead.

Hand, foot, hand, foot.

Yes, I am allowed to do stupid and dangerous things at dangerous heights, just me, Albert is most certainly not. I am not being hypocritical, I just happen to know that Adele would burn me alive if he managed to hurt himself somehow.

Hand, arm, knee, bloody little crevice,

"I've almost got it..." he insists stubbornly.

"Bit of an awkward place for that flower, huh?" Arbol calls up from behind me.

"You could help him!" I accuse, "Before he falls and kills himself."

Arm, arm, yes! At the top, now just to work my way over-

"You should know by now it is cursed hard to kill yourself in here," Arbol shrugs, leaning against the foot of the rock, "Even without the curse, I don't think the fall would be quite high enough to do it."

"That you Arbol?" Albert calls, leaning back towards the rock to get a better look around (Thank Grimm). "I should have expected Elle to figure you out," he says as he catches sight of the reclining figure below us.

Jump, grab, scramble over the next lump.

"Only barely!" Arbol protests, "I had to practically spoon feed it to her!"

"Excuse me, I'm right here!" I shout, as I judge my next jump.

"Yeah, kind of hard to miss you up there," Arbol agrees shamelessly. I make a point of ignoring him.

I land next to Albert, "Got you!" I declare triumphantly grabbing his shoulder a moment to steady myself. "Now what in the two worlds do you think you are doing up here?!"

"I was looking for the antidote flower," he says, hesitantly holding up the handful of flowers he seemed to be collecting, "that one looked promising-" not quite making eye contact. "And if they turned out to be wrong I thought Adele might like them too..."

AWWWWW. More guys should be like Albert.

I can think of several who would benefit from lessons. I glare over the edge at a certain tree spirit.

Arbol doesn't seem to catch the hint.


	44. Arguments

**Yay! I'm finally updating again! Maybe... This is a full length chapter I promise. I definitely owe you one by this point don't I? But the writers block is still pretty bad on this one. I am running out of ideas and all of my previous ones are getting all jumbled up and I am rather confused QUITE where this is going but I have an idea. Please don't get angry(not helpful right?). My plan is this: I will be posting next week, but not TLC. I have another idea for a story but it is just a short story I promise! I would not let myself be distracted otherwise, too dangerous. I just need the confidence boost, I think... I hope. Anyway, your long awaited update. Sorry it wasn't more exciting!**

Arguments

"Where is Adele anyway?" I ask.

"Eh- The last I saw her she was giving your friend Anthony a stern talking to," Albert says with a prideful sort of smile on his face.

"Yes, but where?" I insist, "We'll go try and find her."

"I don't... really know if... that's the best idea," Albeirt hesitates.

"Nonsense, I can handle Anthony," I say much more confidently than I feel. Though to be perfectly honest, I am starting to feel like Donovan might pose a much bigger problem at the moment. Curse his womanizing ways.

"Besides I was just about to get that flower-" Albert looks almost forlornly at that last flower.

"Fine," I relent, "We will get that last flower. While we are doing that, Arbol, would you find where Adele is?"

"Adele, who?"

"Arbol, come on, would you please just do it?" I ask, while hurrying to hold onto Albert who is again reaching, eagerly, for the flower.

" No, I really don't know 'er!" he insists. He might be genuine, but it is understandably hard to tell with him.

"It's been a bloody long time since I was last outta that tree," he says catching my look.

"She's got a heart of gold and a face to match," Albert calls helpfully.

"A face of gold? Eh, not sure about yer taste in girls mate, I'll just look for a girl and the bugs, shall I?"

"Albert! Will you settle down, look I'll get it!" I say rather flustered, yanking him back in. "That would be great if you would, Arbol," I call down, trying to pay attention to both of them at the same time.

"That's two now!" Arbol calls up mischievously.

"It's still none, and my freeing you from this whole bloody curse is worth a lot more that that!" I shoot back dismissively. "Now Albert," I say reasonably, "there have to be a million easier ways to do this. Could you just make a bird clone and get it to pick it for you?"

"Can't," Albert says avoiding eye contact again, "I need the orb."

"Then you hold me and I will reach for it, I'm lighter."

Albert looks a little put out but nods all the same. "Okay, you hold my waist here, and for Grimm's sake, don't drop me!" I direct.

"Drop 'er! Drop 'er!" Arbol calls oh-so terribly helpful from below us.

"Shut up, Arbol, don't you have a job to do?" I call in a rather strangled squeak as I reach for that bloody stupid little flower, I swear it keeps moving to just out of reach! Bloody stupid cursed flower!

"I already found 'er, she's right- oops!" I hear forebodingly from below.

"What 'oops'? No, 'oops', Arbol, what-"

"Elle!" I hear from the trees and groan immediately, "Fiend! How dare you dangle my fair maiden off a cliff! Don't worry, my love, I will save you!"

"Is he really talking about you?" I hear Arbol question, giving me a dubious look.

"Shut up, Arbol!" I shout, "Albert, quick, pull me in," I order, trying to use my other arm to lever myself up as well, "Anthony, you stop it right now, Albert is in no way a fiend!" Though my argument is not helped by the fact that at that moment Albert manages to loose his grip on me (probably from all my flailing) and I slip down the side of the rock. I latch onto vines in moments. "Curse it, Albert! I told you not to drop me!"

"Sorry, sorry, I just got so flustered! I'll fix it-" he apologizes trying to reach down and help me.

"No, no, don't. I'll just climb back down," I assure him peering down to make sure the vines went down that far.

"Jump down, my angel!" I hear below me, and then, "I _really_ think you have the wrong girl there."

"Both of you just shut it, would you?" I shout over my shoulder as I edge my way down.

Then, "There he is Lexi! Grab him!" I hear Adele has joined the party with Lexi apparently in tow, I try (unsuccessfully) to twist around and see if there is anyone else coming that I should know about.

"Elle! What are you doing up there?" I hear Jaz as well. I groan again. No! This is all getting out of hand way too quickly! It's not allowed to do that!

I've got to try and get control of the situation again, but the first thing to do is get on the ground as quickly as possible. I let go. Pushing away from the wall I manage to get enough room to do a sort of tumbling roll. I land, slightly dizzy, but nothing is broken as far as I can tell.

"Elle!" I am suddenly enveloped in an enormous hug, "Oh my sweet you are safe and I will never let you go again." My chest twinges. "Anthony, let go," my firm shove making up for the slight hesitation in my voice. The rejection doesn't sit on his face half as long as I'd hoped it would, and an optimistic smile quickly forces its way in to overpower his features. But I don't have much time to dwell on it as I am quickly smothered again, "Oh Elle I am so glad we found you! I think something awful has happened to Donovan, he still hasn't shown up, we are organizing a search party!" Jaz says seriously.

"See!" Anthony adds before I can even manage a proper, 'Uhh'. "I realized that your problem was that you were feeling guilty about Donovan for some reason, so I found Jaz now you don't need to worry any more and we can be together!" his smile just looks so hopeful that it momentarily sizzles any sarcastic remarks that should have come right away. I am saved the trouble of trying to speak as Lexi barrels in out of nowhere and Adele follows shortly after.

"No running away!" Lexi orders, Anthony looks appropriately terrified at the sight of the little green tyrant. Meanwhile, Dray has found his way up to Albert.

"Now Anthony, we had a talk about this didn't we?" Adele says warningly.

"No, no! But I'm fixing it!"

"Anthony, when do we start looking for Donovan? I'm worried!"

"Adele! Oh good, you're here!"

"Grimm would you all just shut up!"

For a moment I almost think I'd shouted that, but as the shocked moment passes, me and everyone else in this mess spin around to see Donovan striding out of the woods. A strange medley of emotions passes around everyone's face, all except Arbol who seems to have slunk off somewhere.

"Donovan!" shout both Anthony and Jaz at about the same time, though with very different tones, while Albert mumbles something about it probably being a bad thing that he showed up. It is me, however, with a remote glare on my face, who he addresses first.

"I really should have expected that I suppose, you trying to ditch me."

"I was necessary," say without a hint of remorse.

He looks about to reply but Jaz rushes up to him throwing her arms around him, anything but the much more shy Jaz I know. "Oh, I am so glad you are okay!"

I note with some satisfaction that he is looking particularly uncomfortable.

"I'd been so worried about you, and we were going to organize a search party and everything to find you, but we don't need to now because you have come back to me and-"

"That's nice, would you mind dislodging yourself from my neck? Thanks." Donovan pushes her away firmly, eyes on me the whole time, and Jaz has such a look on her face I would probably be more annoyed at him if I wasn't so worried about what was coming next.

"Donovan Erebus, don't you dare say another word!"

"Words aren't really necessary for what I had in mind," he says slyly, reallying laying on the charm and glamor, but thankfully stopping in his tracks.

I rush over to Anthony who looks ready to draw a sword if he had one, "Anthony, dear," I whisper eager to get him out of here no matter what I have to do, "If you love me, I have only one request, that you prove your love to me by-" my mind races, "helping Adele to find a special flower that she wants." Maybe it's not in the plot, but Albert is looking for the real one anyway, and I don't want to think about what might happen to him if he and Donovan got to actual fighting. I don't want to think about what would happen to either of them. I vaguely remember that the two girls are supposed to fight, and I would love to just deal with one plot point at a time.

"Go, go, don't worry about this fool," I mutter, motioning to Donovan. I feel awful even lying about this. One because it's so brazen, and two because I my feelings are all just so jumbled that I can't tell what that twisting in my stomach is from any more.

Anthony smiles victoriously, I turn to Adele and mouth, 'Buy me some time', before Anthony practically drags her off on their goose chase. Grimm, it's like watching kindergartners!

I turn back, worried of what mess Jaz and Donovan have already managed to get themselves into, to find that at some point Donovan had managed to sneak up behind me. "Now, about that silence."

I flush instantly for a moment and try to look anywhere but his grin. A rather fortunate thing as Jaz comes storming up out of nowhere.

"Elle! Donovan! What do you think you are-"

"Oh would you just get lost?" Donovan groans.

Jaz's hair flashes from dark blue to a sudden and furious red.

"Elle, I can't believe you!" she accuses me, I roll my eyes, oh, Grimm, why did I have to be the only sane one?

"Jaz I-"

"Accuse her of convincing the Princes to tease you," I hear just above my ear. I start violently and see Dray hovering near my ear looking encouragingly at me. Oh right, the plot, that thing.

"Well I can't believe that you-" I struggle trying to think of something that doesn't sound like complete nonsense but I don't think I succeed, "Would be play such a jerk trick on me."

Jaz looks at me with as much confusion as I feel. Is that really how it goes? I try and skim through the story in my mind, oh yeah, she thinks that the guys are only flirting with her because they are playing a mean joke. Right.

"Yeah," my mind racing, trying to think of more to say, "I mean, that's the only way these two would be confessing their love for me, calling me beautiful and perfect, is if you put them up to it." Ouch. Grimm, this tale sucks!

"What are you talking about?" Jaz cries. I'm not even sure.

"Elle, that is the biggest load of nonsense I have ever heard," I hear from beside me.

"You, you just shut up and keep quiet!" I spin on Donovan. "I don't want to hear any of your... your... shameless flirting."

"Flirting? Elle, what are you on about? Donovan?"

"Jaz, I uh-"

"Are you cheating on me?" Jaz accuses.

"It's not cheating if we were never together!" Donovan groans before I can insert a single protest.

But Jaz seems to completely ignore the blunt dismissal, "But, but I thought you loved me? Elle said... what changed? I didn't say something did I? I didn't do anything wrong!and it's not like I was any prettier back then, and I'm certainly prettier than her!"

Ouch again!

Even if it is true. Boy, had she better be under some heavy drugs!

"Look, it's neither one's fault," I say before my pride can take another hit. "You are both drugged up on a magical flower, none of your feelings are true right now," both look like they are about to protest. It is likely that none of this is actually getting through to them, but it is easier if I just keep talking and so it doesn't matter what I tell them, despite Dray's protests in my ear that I stick to a script that I don't know.

"The puppet master is looking for the antidote now, and then we can all just-"

"Puppet?" Jaz questions suddenly.

"Yeah, the one who controls the-"

"Oh I see, so now you're calling me short? Well if that's how you want to play it!"

"What? I.. No!" Where did she even?... Did I say easier? Strike that. Remind me just to bloody keep my mouth shut next time!


	45. Glitches Get Creative

**I'm back! Wooo! *dodges knives***

**Yeah, yeah, so I KNOW that I kind of left you hanging for months... sorry? I plead college essays and school. On the bright side I've been accepted to at least one by now. I gotta say though, the break was good for me, as soon as I finally sat down and forced myself to write, I wrote PILES. Maybe I'm past some sort of important block and it'll be easy from here on? Psh, riiiight, but here's to hoping!**

**Anyway, thanks to all you who sent me little...hints that I should get over it and update. I'm gonna be honest, I needed it. It's always inspiring no matter how bad the story to hear that people are really getting angry at me for leaving them hanging. Weird? Maybe. But if it gets me writing, right?**

**Alright, I'll shut up now and just let you guys read. XP**

Glitches Get Creative

"I thought we were friends Elle!" she cries.

"We are!"

"Friends don't lie to friends like this, they don't steal from or insult their friends, you, you are a thieving lying-" suddenly she slaps me and she looks almost as surprised as I am, but not about to back down. Neither of us know quite how to react, though Donovan does not seem to be at the same disadvantage as us.

"How dare you!" he roars, which only enrages Jaz further.

"What have you done to my Donovan? You witch!" Jaz shouts, her hair turns deep black but I could swear I see her eyes glaze over black before I am suddenly tackled to the ground.

The wind rushes from my lungs, and Jaz trying to rattle my brains out doesn't do anything for my disorientation. Something is VERY wrong with Jaz, she would never be so violent! I'm normally the violent one, but here I am on the ground and reluctant to fight back! Once again the curse and the glitches have turned everything on it's head.

Donovan seems about to rush in and break us up, when I hear rustling at the other end of the clearing and who should reappear but Anthony still dragging Adele and the bugs.

"Donovan!" he shouts and rushes over, just as ready to fight as before. Apparently the curse just decided that separating them was just not a valid option and _trampled_ all over that idea!

CURSES!

I can only suppose that the two are duking it out as my attention is pretty focused on holding Jaz back and trying my best not to hurt her at the same time.

"Steal my true love! You call me short! How dare you, lying cheating, you are not even that much taller! Fight back you coward!" Jaz rages senselessly, it doesn't even sound like her.

Suddenly the both of us are being pulled apart by two pairs of stronger arms. I must have been wrong about the fighting thing. Though from the looks on their faces they were just as eager to be starting a fight as stopping one.

By some cruel twist of fate, though I can't see the alternative being much better, Anthony happens to be the one shielding me, and Donovan holding back Jaz. She turns her attention back on Donovan.

"Donovan, sweet love, why are you doing this?"

Anthony can't seem to hold himself back at this, "You seem to be already spoken for, Donovan. It would seem the lady holds you back in more ways than one. It's probably best for you, as you would certainly come out the worse in a fight."

Donovan glowers, "Do not make the mistake of thinking I am reluctant to fight you, or that I might love this troll more than my sweet Elle, as I would be more than happy to skewer you for even suggesting it."

"Oh will you?" Anthony takes offense right away and before I know it both Jaz and I are back on the ground in the two's eagerness to run each other through. They both draw and advance on each other.

"You two have the compromising skills of a toddler!" I shout furiously at the two of them, but of course they don't hear me. I start forward to break them up, just in time to avoid Jaz's attempt to tackle me. I swing back to see her sputtering in the dirt.

"Don't you run away from me!" she growls almost animal like.

I can finally see even in the dim light, her eyes have gone as pitch black as Lexi's and her smile is something resembling the wolf from Red Ridinghood. I stand rather in shock that such a familiar face can look so foreign and frightening, giving her just enough time to attack with even more ferocity than before. I try and push her back as she claws at my face. I manage to flip and pin her and I almost dare to think that I might have the upper hand. That is when I suddenly spot the curved black blade in her hand.

Oh cursed-!

With what by this point I can be quite certain is inhuman strength she flings me back into a tree. I catch a glimpse of Donovan and Anthony flashing metal blades before I have to roll out of the way to narrowly avoid a knife through the eye.

"Fool!" she hisses, then comes at me again, slashing furiously. I can only do my best to duck out of the way. If not for the amateurish and hacking way she swung the knife, I probably wouldn't have stood a chance.

I manage to duck behind a tree, adrenaline lighting my veins on fire. I scramble for a branch or something to block the raving swing of the blade as the thing that is no longer Jaz rounds after me. The blade seems to glow almost in excitement.

I clutch for rocks and leaves and throw them up as I bolt to the next tree where I manage to grab a sturdy looking branch. Jaz is not even two steps behind and I swing the branch behind me just in time to catch the knife. She shrieks in fury as I now use the branch to unbalance her and try to wrestle the knife from her grip.

We tumble into the leaves, but my only focus is on pulling the knife from her clawing hands. Finally, I wrench the hilt from her hand. Her shrill screech is enough to make your ears bleed.

She flips me, throwing me for the second bloody time into a tree with a force that I don't know how much longer I can try and match, but I have the knife now and-

Wait, where'd it go?

I look desperately for the knife that I lost when I collided with the tree.

The thing advances with this horrible smile, and I feel the bottom drop out of my stomach, there is no way I am going to win this, I don't even know how.

"Elle hold her!" I hear suddenly from our side. I don't even question for a moment I just throw myself at the thing and hold it's arms as best I can from behind. She fights like a snake and a bear and a crocodile all combined, but Adele comes rushing up before I loose my grip. Adele smashes some white flower into the thing's face, smothering her for a few moments. The effect is almost immediate, she collapses and suddenly I am holding her up rather than holding her back.

"Sleeping flower, courtesy of Arbol," Adele says with a weak smile, holding up the crumpled flower.

"M-hmm," I mutter, dropping the body to the ground. I am trembling furiously from the fear and adrenaline still playing murder on my nerves.

We both start as a strange howl starts up from Jaz's body as this black mist suspiciously resembling a glitch rises off of her and fades into the shadows.

I sigh shakily and rub my face. It is only then I notice the searing rip in my hand. It hurts, it hurts a lot. It's the deepest I think I've ever had. "Well that's new," I giggle almost hysterically.

"Elle! Are you okay!" Adele looks the mos t worried I've seen her yet.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," I assure her, realizing that I have to keep my composure.

"I dropped the knife around here somewhere," I tell her, walking over to look for it, "We still need to go stop Donovan and Anthony, and you never know when a weapon is going to come in handy," I say already moving on to the next thing I have to do.

"Lexi and Dray already have that covered and they are running the two about after fake voices to tire them out," Adele assured me, though still kneeling down to help look for the knife.

It takes me a moment to figure out what she is talking about but I am instantly grateful to the two pixies, remind me, yet again, to be nicer to them.

I hit the knife and almost cut myself again, but I just grab the blade in my left so hard that the cut bleeds even worse but I don't really care. I stare at the blade, no longer so glowingly malicious.

"Elle," Adele breaks me gently out of my reverie.

"Right," I scramble for my thoughts , "I should go back to the clearing and wait for the others to show up and fall asleep."

Adele nods, "And I will go find Albert and make sure he has the antidote."

We separate. In the trees and moonlight and silence, it feels even more dreamlike than ever before, how fitting for a tale called Midsummer Night's Dream.

I find my way to the clearing with the large rock, and I think that I could just rest my eyes while I wait, I've got too much left over adrenaline to fall asleep, I'm sure, but I could just lean up against the rock... and close my eyes...

"Elle. Elle, wake up," I am being shaken by some sort of horribly rude person as I was obviously not asleep.

My eyes take a moment but Donovan's face comes into sharp focus in front of me.

Is he still on the potion? Is he going to be all over me? Oh curse it, I don't care any more!

"I'm not asleep," I mutter.

He lets out a breath and half smiles at me, "Somehow I don't think the blood fashion statement is going to catch on."

I groan and drop my head back against the rock. "Would it kill you to show a little sympathy?"

"Well, I thought I should be optimistic and suppose that it wasn't yours," he says by way of asking me what happened.

I only hold up my hand in response, dropping the dagger that I had kept a death grip on. I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks... or feels.

Donovan runs a hand through his hair and makes a face. He gently takes the hand to get a better look, "Does it-"

"Hurt like there aren't enough explicatives in the world? Yeah, yeah it does." I finish for him.

"And you haven't cleaned it yet," he chides.

"Had to go chasing after your stupid ass and save you from Anthony," I mutter.

"He's asleep now," he assures me. "Stay here," he orders as if I was just jumping with the energy to run away, "I'm just going a few meters away."

"Better hurry or I might just run off," I roll my eyes...

"I know you're not sleeping, but you might care to finish up that blink sometime soon," Donovan teases.

I purposely keep my eyes closed as sits down in front of me and takes my hand.

"Now it's my turn to play vindictive shirtless doctor, while I yell at you for being stupid," he teases.

"Nooo," I moan and try to pull my hand away, opening my eyes. And sure enough he is sitting there his shirt all balled up and wet and not on him. I blink several times. No, I am not swept off my, well, I'm sitting, but I'm not impressed or completely smitten as I am sure several of you are hoping. To be quite perfectly honest he is a skinny sort of muscle which just isn't... it's not... I'm not...

"I wasn't being stupid," I protest.

"Oh no?" Donovan raises an eyebrow, "Please enlighten me."

"Jaz was possessed by some sort of glitch and it had a knife and I was only protecting myself."

Donovan is silent.

"And I was certainly not shirtless."

"No, but I feel quite certain that it would have been a much more pleasant experience if you had been. You don't seem to mind so much," he grinned.

"I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but you're not that much to look at. I mean- shhhttt," I hiss at the sudden sharp pain.

"Jerk," I glare.

"No idea what you are talking about," Donovan is suddenly concentrating very hard on my hand, trying to hide a grin.

"I'm going to try and bandage it-"

"Don't bother, it'll be gone by the next tale," I shrug, pulling my hand back.

"Right, just like your hair?"

"That's different-" I try to protest but he drags my hand back over and doesn't even hesitates just cuts up his shirt with the same knife that caused my pain as if he does it every day. Now I've always found the ripped clothes to make a bandage cliché particularly annoying because you've just ruined your clothes and it hardly seems very sanitary. I keep my mouth shut though and just wait for him to finish.

"There," he says, "all done," but continues to hold on. Yeah, he's still on the potion.

"Thanks," I mutter, reclaiming my hand.

"Anytime," he smiles, "Though it would probably be best if it didn't happen again."

"My sentiments exactly," I sigh, as I rest back against the rock, closing my eyes. "Now go to sleep so that we can get out of this stupid tale."

"Right away," he chuckles, leaning back beside me.

"Good," I mummer.


	46. The Frog Princess

**Hey sorry, I am a day late. I am trying to get back onto a Sunday update schedule but I was a little distracted. I'll be better next time!**

**The Frog Princess**

"Elle!" I open my eyes. I instantly recognize the in between blackness.

I look around to find who called my name and very quickly spot him.

"Anthony," I match his smile.

He laughs awkwardly, "I think I owe you some sort of apology, I'm not really sure what happened, it's like a dream the harder I try to remember the less I recall, but the parts I do I-"

"It's fine, honest!" I assure him, "You didn't know what you were doing, and you were a perfect gentleman the entire time," I'm only twisting the truth a little bit.

He sighs in relief. "Good, I uh- good."

We lapse into silence for a moment in which I scramble to think of something else to say. Just like every other conversation I've ever had with him. I sigh, he and Jaz are much better off. "So, you and Jaz, huh?" I ask.

"Yeah," Anthony looks a little embarrassed but he has this silly smile all the same.

"You two are cute together," I assure him.

"Yeah, I'd never even- well I mean before this, we weren't that close, I mean obviously since she would probably have told you," he adds quickly, "but she can just be so..."

"Loyal? Nice? Concerned? Adorable?" I fill in for him.

"She is so amazing, and I mean I feel kind of bad for saying it, but I never would have known if you guys hadn't gotten stuck in that curse, I mean, silver lining and everything, right? She was just so worried about you and Donovan and she worked the whole night through and I-" I get the feeling he could go on forever about her, but something about what he is saying strikes me as odd.

"Wait, I thought you- You didn't have any feelings for her before this whole mess?" I clarify.

He shrugs, "I'd never really talked to her before, I mean she was pretty- she's beautiful and-"

"And that lunch where Donovan turned her down?"

"I felt bad for her," he laughed, "Though I'm pretty glad for it now!"

"Donovan," I growl under my breath. That lying, scheming- So he completely made that up? Oh he had better have one heck of an explanation when I get back to him.

"But you two are doing, well, I suppose it's hard to be okay when you are trapped in a curse but you aren't killing each other or anything right?"

"Not yet," I smile dangerously. He just laughs. He thinks I'm kidding.

"Well hopefully you are on good enough terms to get out of here with us," he says, and I know exactly what he is implying.

"Uhh- actually we-"

"Anthony! Elle!" Jaz comes flying out of the darkness to choke the both of us in an enormous hug.

"Hey Jaz," I cough, recovering from the hug. I let go of her but I notice she continues to hold onto Anthony. They are so good together.

"Where's Donovan?" she asks looking around, her hair back to a happy pink. "The sooner we can all get out of here the better."

"Jaz, I told you about Adele and Albert!" I protest.

"Elle, you can't expect me to just feel fine about leaving you here?!"

"I'm fine, I've got it all under control-" I try and protest but she will have none of it.

"Don't you even try," she shakes her finger, "It is dangerous in here! The bits that I remember about that last fairy tale you almost got yourself killed!" she turns a little bit pink here with embarrassment but she doesn't back down.

"Jaz, I need to, they are my friends, I would do the exact same for you," in a tone that leaves no room for argument.

Jaz realizes that she isn't going to win but she makes it very obvious that she doesn't have to like it.

"Wait, what's going on?" poor Anthony has no idea what is going on. "I know you don't like Donovan but it can't be so terrible just to kiss and get out?"

"I've already tried that and I don't think it has any more likelihood of success as it did then," I explain patiently. "But you guys have to go, if you can get out the normal way all the better because the less people trapped in here the less I have to worry."

"Elle-" Jaz tries one more time to protest

"I'll be fine," I assure her. She sighs but there isn't a lot of choice in the matter. "Besides, I know you two have been dying to make out," I tease.

"Be safe, okay Elle? Because if you have this under control then there's going to be nothing I can do once I get back except worry about you that something is going to go horribly wrong and I will never see you again so you'd better hurry and get out or I am going to go absolutely raving mad with concern. So you'd better promise me!" she works herself up, all of her fear sneaking out in her voice.

"I promise," I laugh and smile with more optimism than I feel, anything to assure her that I will be fine.

'"Come back soon," she warns one more time, and with that she turns and smiles shyly at Anthony who bends down without a moment more hesitation. The kiss is short and sweet but it does the trick In a quick flash of light that leaves me seeing spots, they are gone, leaving me with the last little residue of jealousy. I shake my head and the rest of it is gone, they are perfect for each other, so nice that they will never fight and never argue and never decide anything, and I've got more sense than to delude myself and more important things to worry about.

I feel that tug from behind and smile. On to the next tale, seven down, five to go!

The fairytale takes as long for me to guess as it does to look at the well and feel the golden ball in my hand. The Frog Princess.

An insuppressible grin slowly takes over my face as I laugh quietly at the prospect of seeing Donovan as a frog. There is no way he is getting out of it this time! And all I have to do is drop this silly little ball into the well and pretend to act upset. I march over to the well, more than happy to get this tale started so I can laugh at Donovan. After all he deserves it for lying to me about Anthony...

I sit down quietly on the edge of the well, fiddling with the little gold ball. What am I going to say? How do I even start a conversation like that? I've got to ease into it, subtly, so that by the time he realizes what I'm getting at he has no choice but to answer. I struggle to think of a way to manipulate a conversation like that, but as usual I have trouble imagining how Donovan would react to anything I say. Sometimes he's angry, sometimes he just laughs it off with a sarcastic comment, sometimes he just gets all serious and I can't get a thing out of him! It's enough to drive a person mad! Well, there's nothing for it than to just get this tale moving and play it by ear.

I drop the ball down the little well, watching it reflect back golden rays even as it plummets into the darkness.

Plop. I hear the wet signal and with a sigh I try to look what might pass for remotely peeved. When nothing happens for another five minutes I glower down the well, fine, I'll do it right.

"Oh dearest me!" I start to moan, "Whatever shall I do, however could I possibly get my little golden ball back? Oh if only somebody could bloody hurry up and get it for me already!"

"I hear you," I hear from inside the well, "But if you didn't notice it's a rather difficult job to climb vertically up several yard of pitch black slippery stone."

"Oh, whoops," I reach quickly for the rope to pull the bucket up. I was probably supposed to do that.

Without another word I start to haul the bucket up the well. I feel a slight weight added where Donovan jumps in. That is when my hand starts throbbing again, I loose grip on the bucket and Donovan's yell of surprise is the only thing that reminds me to keep a grip on the rope. I examine my hand, keeping a one handed grip on the rope. I guess I'd just so completely assumed that the cut couldn't possibly follow me to the next tale that I didn't even notice until now. It looks more just like an angry red scar on my hand, but as I watch it, it grows longer and seems to open up again before my eyes. I shiver and have to look away quickly. It's then I realize I didn't not notice it, the cut just took a while to catch up to me. It stings just as bad as the last tale and I grit my teeth. Grimm curse this whole horrendous place!

"What's keeping you?" Donovan calls from inside the well.

"Nothing," I shout back a little too quickly and continue to pull rather more jerkily, using my foot as an anchor, keeping my injured hand at my side.

I quickly hide my hand behind my back as the bucket crests the lip of the well.

"Well, go ahead, get it all out now," Donovan rolls his eyes, presenting himself with a tiny webbed hand.

I would have, I really would have mocked him for all that I could if I wasn't still getting over my hand. This almost turned the whole curse on it's head, I mean my hair was one thing but this is a very different problem!

"You're a toad," I shrug, "What am I supposed to say?"

"I was expecting something along the lines of, 'Your Royal Wartyness', maybe a few comments about how you don't notice much change, at least a poorly hidden laugh," he lists the possibilities.

"I am offended you think so poorly of me," I shake my head, "ugly jokes are much too easy."

"Oh forgive me," he croaks lightly, dripping sarcasm, "I would never wish to offend such a refined wit."

"Bloody right," I nod, hiding a cringe as my hand gives another particularly painful throb, "Now are we going to make this deal or not? I'd rather not be here all day," I peer up at the sunlight filtering through the foliage at sharp angles.

"Of course," Donovan sweeps a strange froggy bow, and to that at least, I can't help but snort. I would say he looked relieved if it wasn't for the fact that it is very difficult to read emotions on a frog, and this is Donovan we are talking about here.

"You must do whatever I ask of you if I fetch your little gold ball."

"Yup, whatever you want," I roll my eyes, "Now shoo and go get it."

Donovan does a sort of back flip off the stones back down to the water, "It's much less impressive as a frog!" I call down, just before I hear the splash.

I hurriedly bring my hand back out for examination. The blood is all down my fingers again and I dunk it in the bucket that is still up here. I pray that it takes a long time to find a stupid gold ball as I wash my hand in the bucket.

"Adele, Albert, Arbol, any of you here?" I call into the greenery.

I hear a familiar rustle in response. Perfect.


	47. Oh the Cliches

**Boy are you guys lucky ducks. This chapter ended in such a place that I couldn't shorten it quite right and now it is much longer than it normally is. **

**Oh, btw, been reading/watching a lot of REALLY good stuff recently. So you are lucky I even had the time/confidence to write this. If you aren't already following them then check out ****Spelled: Adventures of a Goose Girl**** by Back roads and "Alice" on SyFy(SCI FI) because they are FAN-friking-TASTIC! Especially the Alice which I am re-watching tonight. Squee!**

Oh the Cliches

I rush over to the tree and peer up into the branches. I squeal in surprise as his face pokes out from over a branch just a few feet above my head. "I thought ye were supposed to be good at these fairy tales," he comments, "There aren't any trees in this one."

"And yet you are still here," I counter, "I just need a few things really quick."

"I don't know, might cost ye another favor," he smiles.

"You keep racking up these supposed favors and I have no idea what you are going to try and do with them Arbol, you might as well just stop with the-" a splash from the well reminds me that I don't have time.

"Fine, a minor favor, whatever that is supposed to be, I just need some bandages and gloves."

"I'm not quite sure if I've got them-"

I shoot him a whithering glare.

"No sense of humor, that's what ye've got."

"I'll listen to you complain all about it later," I look back nervously at the well.

"What's the big deal with these any way," he calls down from climbing up the branches, why he needs to go up there, I don't know, maybe he keeps a drug store tucked away up there.

"I just don't want anyone to worry is all."

"Maybe ye've got something wrong with ye," he says, dropping quickly back down with the requested items in hand. "Don't most girls like ta be made a big deal over? 'Specially when it's by whatever guy they're in love with?'

"Well I don't," I assure him, catching the gloves and cloth as he drops it on me, "And I am most certainly NOT in love with anyone, thanks Arbol."

He says nothing, just leaves me with a mischievous smile, and then he was gone.

I shake my head and hurry back over to the water bucket. My hand is lightly bandaged and hidden within the minute. Now no one will be the wiser, as the white little gloves look like they just came with the dress. Thank Grimm. I dump the water onto the grass just in time.

"Got it!" Donovan calls.

"It took you long enough! What were you doing down there? Taking a nap?" I shout over, trying not to sound nervous.

"Yeah lets see you try and find this stupid little thing in pitch black-"

"Heads up!" I interrupt, dropping down the bucket.

"Hey watch it! That almost hit me!" he calls as he gets in.

"Darn, I missed," I tease, pulling the bucket up much quicker this time.

"Took you long enough," Donovan copied as he jumps out, I peer into the bucket and retrieve the little golden ball.

"What's that smell?" Donovan asks hoping around the grass, I bite my lip as he hops towards the spot where I dumped the water.

"I don't smell anything. Is that one of your froggy superpowers?" I joke, grabbing him with my uninjured hand. He flails a little but settles down once I put him on my shoulder.

"Super-smell seems like a pretty lame superpower, between that and the fetching balls, I might as well just get a dog rather than go through this whole business of a frog prince," I try to make it all just seem like a stupid joke as I hurry away from the well, trusting the curse to direct me wherever I am supposed to be going.

"But then you wouldn't have my wonderful conversational skills."

"Did you seriously just suggest that you are a better companion than a dog?" I laugh, almost tipping him off my shoulder.

"I'm way cooler," he says once he has regained his balance.

"Hardly!" I argue, "A dog, I wouldn't have to carry, and it would be much cuter."

"And here you kept saying you were above ugly jokes."

"I'm not calling you ugly, I'm just saying, frog form or no, you can't beat out a dog for cuteness."

"You wouldn't be saying that if I was myself right now." I think that is supposed to be suggestive. But the idea of that coming from a frog just makes it all the more funny and I laugh so hard he really does fall off this time.

His intense look of dissatisfaction once he rights himself just sends me into another bout, and it is a full minute before I can pretend to try and nurse his injured pride, and by nurse I mean nothing of the sort.

"Thank goodness I thought we would never get to the castle," Donovan croaks as we break through the final layer of foliage and step into view of a rather measly looking castle, but it is cute nonetheless.

"A little too much teasing for your poor froggy pride?" I smile.

"Nonsense, I'm just hungry," he insists. This reminds my stomach and I hurry into the castle. The first person we meet is the king and he practically tears the story about the well out of me in return for a promise that dinner will be served shortly.

Shortly ends up being not nearly short enough, so Donovan and I start brainstorming ways to get Lexi's attention. I must say, she shows up pretty fast as soon as you start breaking things.

"What are you doing?!" she demands shrilly.

"Testing the resilience of these vases," I smile, dropping the one in my hands, "You should look into getting something a bit more durable."

"You two should never be left alone together," she mutters.

"Wouldn't that seem to be rather counteractive to the whole falling in love thing?" Donovan argues.

"Not that we're worried about that," I add quickly, "All we wanted was to bask in the warmth of your company Lexi."

She glares.

"That and some food?" I add with the brightest smile I can conjure.

"You humans need to eat so much!" Lexi complains.

"Elf!" Donovan corrects Lexi.

"Frog." I correct Donovan.

Glares are distributed about and then the king bursts in with a voice oddly reminiscent of Albert. "Dear daughter, won't you come join us for dinner?"

"Of course, father dear," I smile, "and I expect the food to taste like food, Albert."

"Then may I suggest you restrict yourselves to the soup?" he smiles as I walk out, "Oh and don't forget your frog!"

"Yes, wouldn't want to forget that," Donovan agrees, jumping enormously high and right into my hands. Right into my thrice cursed, wounded hands. I have to suppress a whimper.

Yet again, the curse seems to have a very foul sense of humor as I am presented with an huge feast of any number of wonderfully delicious looking things, and yet again, I am restricted to the soup if I want anything that tastes even remotely edible.

Donovan has a very awkward time trying to eat, and we end up finding him a straw. If you can, imagine a frog with a rather peeved look on it's face, seated on an inverted wine glass, sucking at soup through a straw. It is the most absurd thing I think I have ever seen, and it was magnificent! It took forever for me to be calm enough not to choke on my soup every time I caught a glimpse of Donovan beside me. Finally I am able to eat and after a few bowls I am quite content and very ready to sleep. Thank goodness for short fairy tales.

The king needs to say little more than, "Daughter, you appear tired, perhaps you should retire to bed," and "Do not forget your frog!" even though I was already reaching for Donovan. It is while we are walking up the stairs to what Lexi tells me is my room, that I start to worry.

"Which frog princess do you think it is?" I ask Donovan with a yawn.

"Well, seeing as you are not a peasant, it is likely that you aren't going to chop my head off," he shivers, "I think you might enjoy that a little too much."

I merely shake my head, responding neither one way or the other. "So that leaves a kiss, thrown against the wall, and/or sleeping in my room."

"In your bed," he corrects and I make a face.

"I don't think so," I mutter.

Donovan just grins his little froggy grin.

We reach the door and I put him down. "You stay out here," I order.

"Do you want to repeat this tale?" he protests, "You have to at least let me in the-"

"I'm changing first," I calm him. "You know, pajamas? Maybe a bath?"

"Oh, carry on then," Donvan settles down outside the door.

"Lexi!" I call, as soon as I get inside. "Lexi!"

Lexi seems rather peeved when she pops up. "What now? This is supposed to be a simple one," she whines. I kind of get the feeling I woke her up.

"Could I please, please, pretty please, get a bath Lexi, dear?" I plead, I feel disgusting, I REALLY want a bath.

Lexi groans, pops off, I wait a few moments and when she pops back a bright white door pops into existence along with her. "Tub, towels, nightgown, soap," she lists, I squeal.

"Thank you, Lexi!" and fly through the door. Dare I hope it- Yes! There is running water! Oh sweet Grimm!

I open the door to the hall to let Donovan in now. He looks surprised to see me back so soon.

"I got a bathroom," I explain quickly, grinning from ear to ear.

"Lucky you," Donovan hops into the room. "Sure you don't think you should bring me into the bathroom with you? I mean, the fairy tale did say that the princess was supposed to bring him every where."

"Donovan Erebus!" I scold, "You are lucky you are not your normal size, I would slap you!"

"I'll say I'm lucky," he grinned, "Imagine how creepy a toad my normal size would be."

"That's not what I- You know what, never mind," I dismiss, "I'M taking a bath." I swing around without another glance backwards.

I lock the door firmly, and tear off my clothes. The entire bathroom fills with steam as soon as I turn on the tub and my bliss is second only to moments later when I actually step into the steaming hot water and feel the grime just soak away. The soap smells like lavender and I scrub every bit of skin, scalp, and face. It is the most relaxing thing I think I've done in this entire bloody curse. The tub is big enough to completely submerge in, I go under, holding my breath and just listening to the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. Finally, I resurface.

I bite my lip and move reluctantly on to my final task. I start to slowly unwrap my bandage, and gasp slightly as I uncover the final layer. It looks worse. I swear that the thrice cursed, bloody cut is getting worse! As soon as the bandage is removed it starts bleeding again as if it had just been cut moments ago.

I try to clean it with a bit of soap before it burns too much and I just wash it all off. I take the remainder of bandages from earlier that day and re-wrap the wound. The bleeding stops. Thank goodness for Arbol because I'd swear these aren't normal bandages. With that done, so is my bath. All I want now is to sleep. So I change into the nightgown which isn't near as thick as I would have liked, but the sleeves are long enough to hide my hands and that is all I could ask for at the moment.

Finally, I step back out of the bathroom. Pushing back wet hair from my face I glance around for Donovan, we need to figure out sleeping arrangements.

As soon as I close the bathroom door however it disappears, leaving me in cold darkness. The only light besides the moon through the large windows is a candle by the bed. I shuffle carefully over, and of course, what should I see but Donovan already asleep on one side of the mass of pillows.

I sigh, well, he's small and the bed is big. I crawl in on the other side and snuggle into the sheets. To be honest, I'm more upset about the whole kissing thing tomorrow. On the head should be fine, right? I'm sure, other wise it would be like forcing me to finish the tale by finishing the curse, and that is not an option. I watch the candle flicker, tossing shadows here and there. Grimm I hope there aren't any glitches about, I shiver even under all the blankets. I don't feel up to another glitch fight so soon. My eyes start to drift closed. I'm so comfortable, and so tired...

"Elle," I hear behind me. "Elle, I know you're still awake."

"What?" I mutter to Donovan.

"Are you okay?" he asks, I am thrown off by his sudden interest.

"I'm fine," I sigh, turning around to face the pillow he is on, irreparably awake again. "Why?"

"You're hiding something," he comments.

I cringe inwardly, and here I was hoping he wouldn't notice my little slip ups. "Don't know what you're talking about," I mutter.

"Oh come on," Donovan rolls his little black eyes. "Don't girls like to talk about things that bother them?"

"Oh, you're one to talk," I snap. "And don't you make that unreadable face either like you normally do when you don't like the topics I bring up."

"I can hardly help the face at the moment," he jokes, "Unless you are particularly adept at reading frog emotions."

"Or that!" I demand, "That's the other thing you do, you try and just joke it all off until I change the subject, and here I've got a serious question that you are going to answer so help me-"

"An answer for an answer," he suggests.

"If I tell you what I'm hiding, you have to answer any question I ask no matter what it is?" I clarify.

Donovan shrugs and smiles oddly, "I'm reasonably certain you wouldn't know any of the questions that I don't want asked anyway," he says oh so confidently.

Oh is he in for a surprise.

"Fine," I agree and we shake on it, or as close as you can come with a frog hand.

"Now?" I ask.

"I don't see why not?"

I sigh, I pull my arm out from under the blankets and roll up my sleeve to show him the bandages.

"Why were you hiding this!" he exclaims, in the darkness I can almost imagine his typical frown. "It hasn't healed?" he asks.

"It's as bad as it was before," I mutter.

"Elle, this is one stupid thing to choose to hide. How... you... I don't think I will ever understand the way you think. What if it gets infected?"

"It's not-"

"What if it was a magical blade? Maybe that's why it won't heal?"

"Don't be-"

"Elle pretending to be fine is not-"

"I am fine!" I interrupt, "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!" I growl, covering my hand back up. "You make a big deal out of it, and you rub it in my face, and you worry about me and think I can't take care of myself, and I can because I take care of everyone, even when everyone else is out of their mind, and you are running about trying to cause as much trouble as you can and never following my plans and-"

"Elle," he interrupts firmly.

"What? What is is Donovan?" I say in frustration. "Why do you even care? What reason could you possibly have to want to know when I am upset or when I did something stupid? All you do is you rub it in my face because you're so perfect and you would never mess up like I do because I'm just so- I'm so stupid.

"And then you get to act all offended when I don't tell you something, because I'm the only one who has to share anything here. You who is always hiding behind whatever mysteriousness or jokes or white knight complexes! It's not fair!" I finish, with not another word to add that I can think of.

We lay in silence for a while. I pick at the blankets, unable to sit still or look him in the eye.

"Do you have any younger siblings?" he asks finally.

"No," I mutter.

"Well, I do, I've got two younger sisters who aren't even old enough for Grimm's Prep," he explains. "They get into the worst trouble," he laughs lightly, "a lot like you, but they don't have your talent for getting back out, and I'm always the one who has to try and keep them safe. "

I listen silently, not sure what to think of this strange side of Donovan.

"You learn really fast, that it's easiest to try and find out about all the little things, so that you can stop it before all the little things turn into a big problem."

"So I'm like a little sister?" I say after a minute.

He pauses, "After a fashion, yes."

I'm silent. "I've always pictured myself as the eldest if I think about siblings," I say finally, "But I guess I could see having an older brother being fun."

I feel a large bit of the tension lifted. "Just so long as you threaten all my boyfriends and beat up all the jerky guys who call me ugly," I joke.

"As would of course be my sacred duty," he agrees.

"So, now it's time for my question," I quickly transition.

He seems to tense slightly, but waits quietly nonetheless.

"Why did you turn down Jaz?" I ask simply.

"I told you, because Anthony-"

"I do not appreciate being lied to," I cut him off sharply. "You do realize I have been talking to Anthony?"

Whatever it is, Donovan knows he has been caught. Suddenly, I am almost reluctant to hear the answer, but I can't take it back, and I have to know. What if... what if he doesn't have a good reason. What if he really did just turn her down because he was feeling like a bit of a jerk at the time? I bite my lip anxiously, I want to hear an answer that will somehow confirm that nothing I used to think about him was true. I want desperately for there to be a good reason. I nervously await this impossible response just as nervous as he is to give it.

"Elle, I want to tell you, I do but-"

"No buts, just out with it!" I demand shortly.

"Elle, please don't make me tell you now. You would choose just the exact wrong fairy tale to ask this question."

"Why?" I am getting frustrated, "Just because you're a frog?"

"Exactly why."

Here he was just a moment ago, opening up and suddenly I am shut back down. He's coming up with excuses because he knows he doesn't have a good reason and he can't just man up and say it and I can't stand him right now!

"Fine, fine don't tell me!" I cross my arms and flip onto my other side, putting my back to him.

"Elle-"

"Good night, Donovan."

He sighs, "Good night, Elle."


	48. Yet Another Tower

**I am sorry, I was just so scatter brained what with snow and Holiday that I uploaded this chapter and left it in Document manager. Then wondered why no one had commented on it! Anyway, sorry it's short and a touch repetitive, but I'm short on time. Prolly won't update next week as a warning. Enjoy the Season!  
**

Yet Another Tower

The morning dawns so much more warm and calm than the night before. I drift slowly out of my sleep, seeing the gentle light only through my eyelids. The sound of just waking birds, that dewy morning smell leaking in through the windows. I take a deep slow breath, reluctant to move from this warm pocket of lovely peacefulness. Who knew the curse could be anything but gaudy? But the birds start up a little louder and my feet itch, so with a yawn I open my eyes and try to stretch.

I say try, because as soon as I move I become most horribly aware of a certain arm around my waist, and certain very NOT frog like body behind me. Oh Grimm, it's just one bad cliché after another. This of course being the scene where the two protagonists, after some sort of situation that forces them to use the same bed, wake up much closer together than they started. Chaos ensues.

However, you see, this cliché is VERY ill placed as we just had a conversation last night about thinking of him as an older brother! The curse has no shame!

So in an effort to foil the curse while I still can, I try very carefully to slip out from under his arm while he is still asleep.

"Where do you think you're going?" I hear just behind me ear.

Foiling goes out the window as I shoot horizontally out of the bed and tumble on the floor.

"Donovan Erebus! Don't you dare laugh at me like that!" I order from my mess on the floor, trying to regain some image of composure.

"You should have seen your face!" he crows, "I have never seen you so red!"

"Give me just a minute and I assure you, I'll have never seen you so blue," I threaten.

He just keeps laughing while I sit glaring on the floor.

"Quite done? Are you sure?" I say bitterly as he calms down.

"I'm sure I could keep laughing if you would prefer," he grins.

"Try and I'll hang you off a roof."

"Should have done it when I was tiny and green! You've got no chance now."

"Oh yeah?" I challenge with a sudden grin, and without further warning I launch a pillow at his face, following behind it and swinging another.

Donovan ducks grabbing his own pillow to block. He dodges another swing and I am promptly rolled off the bed and onto my butt with a squeal.

"Taste my feathers!" he shouts jumping out after me, and I roll to my feet. We circle each other in a mock duel. Then attack again. Now I'm laughing too, and we're both being pummeled, and I stumble all over the carpet. My bad hand throbs just a bit but I am not about to stop. I aim another at his face and he at my knees. I try to stumble away but he chases after me. I grin and swing back around and oh so gracefully tackle him, tumbling about to land with a loud bang. I sit victoriously on top, pinning him down with my pillow.

"Nice try, but I still beat you," I grin, both of us breathing hard.

"Yeah you did, now get off," he laughs, pushing me one handed onto the ground next to him. I land giggling and still gripping my pillow.

We both lay there a few moments, staring up at the ceiling. "Hey," I wave my arm over at his chest, "You still owe me that answer to my question," I remind him.

For some reason in the daylight and laughing and smiling, I don't dread the answer anymore, even if it's not a good one, I'm just curious. He owes it and I will get it.

Donovan stretches his hands behind his head, anxiously rubbing his hair. "Elle," he turns his face to me. "Just give me the in-between time to gather the right words I promise-"

"Ahg," I groan, "Donovan the perfectionist. Really, I don't care if you don't have a good reason any more," I assure him, leaning up on my elbow, "I just... I just want the closure I guess."

"The very instant the next tale starts," he promises with a smile, matching my pose.

I make a face, "Fine," I relent, "but if I have to wheedle this out of you a word more I'll... I'll... I'll be very angry." I try and make an angry face but it is very hard when I am so cheerful, and it only sends Donovan laughing again.

"Now finish the tale!" I say eager to get this one finished and onto the next.

Donovan knows exactly what I mean, "Thank you, lady," he smiles quietly, "You have freed me from my curse, please, will you do me now the last favor of being my wife?"

"You bet!"

And with that the curse takes it's cue and whisks us both out of there.

* * *

The now unfortunately familiar familiar feeling of having my breath snatched from my lungs presses down on me as soon as the last remnants of the tale fades. I would curse if I could breathe.

I hear the bloody glitches flying all around me, their hissing almost sounds like laughing. Stupid little beasts.

I flail, not sure what to do. There's no Arbol around this time. That's when I feel the knife in my hand, and so do the glitches. Or the sharp part at least. They scatter away from the blade, though they are so confident by this point that even while I am trying to attack those in front of me, they fly at me from behind. Bumping and scratching the foul little things cackle and hiss as I swing about in a circle, trying to protect myself. How did the knife suddenly show up again? I'm not really sure, but it's here and my cut isn't, I'm just going to take what I can get.

One particularly cocky glitch flies right at my face. See, I've had quite enough of this. I slash violently right at its face. It is surprised to say the least as I catch it right between the eyes, it screams a high pitched hiss as it goes careening off through the others. The glitches back off instantly, their caution suddenly remembered.

Yeah that's right!

The glitches circle me slowly, then faster. They all start swarming on one side of me, and I don't stick around to see what is going to happen next. I have a very bad feeling that I already know. I'd rather not meet up with super glitch again, what with all the normal glitches getting bold and violent.

I have no idea where I am running, or if I am actually getting anywhere, there it just black all around me and glitches behind. No wait! There, is... it's the light! The pinkish light from before! I sprint towards it. Maybe I'll get closer this time, maybe I'll find some sort of protection from the glitches. Maybe trolls will fly. Come on, run faster!

I hear a deep thudding from behind me then a high pitched screaming; I start around. I'm not even sure how it is possible but I start going faster!

I feel a faint resistance then a break and I keep flying towards the glowing pink tower, super glitch right on my heels. My muscles burning in protest.

I hear a screech behind me but I don't take the precious seconds to look back until I hear a furious scratching. There is the familiar beastie scratching about as if trying to dig under a fence. I beam.

"Ha! Too big to even get me now!" I taunt it, breathing hard.

The glitch pauses and looks up at me. I swear it glares at me. Then it starts to dissolve.

And the victory goes to me!

I start to turn leisurely back towards the pink glow when out of the corner of my eye I spot a sort of misty blackness. Smaller glitches.

CURSES!

I start running again. Probably not the safest idea with a huge cursed knife in my hand, but I'm not about to drop the knife or slow to a safer pace.

I am now close enough to the pink tower that I can start to make a lot out. Tall and smooth, with the glow coming from some sort of strangely shaped object at the top.

I hear the thudding behind me again, even faster now. Curses curses curses!

"Elle!" I hear Adele's voice from above me.

"You can get me out of here anytime," I shout. I hear the mocking echoes of my voice from all around.

I turn to check on the super glitch. It is ridiculously unfair how quickly it is gaining ground!

I get within a few hundred meters of the tower now, and I almost stop in surprise. I could swear there is a person at the top. Not only up there, but making the glow-

Whoosh! Suddenly the blackness, the glitches, and the tower are gone and I am standing rather unbalanced in front of Adele and a certain fairy godmother.

**I know it's short, you don't need to point it out. Sorry!**


	49. Tea and Keys

**I know, I know, long update periods suck, but I am getting busier.**

**IMPORTANT- Here's one of those random changes that I warned happen when I... well, when I write. I got tired of a bunch of young people all seemingly the same age running about the curse and I decided my cast needed some tweaking. Of course I already mentioned somewhere, Adele and Albert are several years older so early twenties, but I then got a wonderful scene in my head which you will see below in which Arbol is actually much younger looking, something preteen. I think the already planned relationship is funnier that way. Enjoy X)**

**Tea and Keys**

I grip the blade tightly as I look around at my suddenly strange surroundings. White tile floors, a few odd couches, a coffee table with a single steaming cup, and several mismatched doors leading to seemingly nowhere each with a strange twisting tea kettle sort of contraption at the top. Seated on the chairs are a watery sort of lady and a small giant, though small for a giant is still bloody enormous. I'm going to go ahead and guess this is the lounge/waiting room that Adele mentioned that one time.

"Adele, you are not going to believe what happened," I pant, catching my breath and pinching a cramp. "I was being chased by the glitches and there was this glowing tower with a woman on top then the glitches got through the fence, you got me just in time you know."

I get some funny looks.

"You were out there with the glitches?" the watery lady asks in a strange low voice.

I nod.

"Don't suppose you saw Gural out there?" the fairy godmother asks with a rather peeved edge in her voice.

I look warily at her, "No, why?"

"We can't find him, and we're worried," Adele explains.

"Do you think he's in danger?" I ask quickly. He had been so nice! I swear I will dismember any glitch that so much as scratches him!

"We know not, but we hope for the best of course," the water lady says leaning over her couch, I get a glimpse of her tail waving anxiously.

"He will be fine, I am sure, Gural is remarkably lucky," I hear a deep rumble from the giant. I get my first really good look at him as he bends down some to look at me. I am caught off guard, to put it lightly. I've never seen a giant before to be honest, but he is three times taller than me with a pair of glasses and a pipe the size of my forearm. "Pleased to meet you Princess, I am Xjarl" the giant offers two fingers for me to shake.

I shake them rather awkwardly, quite at a loss for what to say.

"Gural spoke very well of you," he nods, "While his stories are often quite entertaining, I often find it best to take them with a grain of salt. However, you seem just as lovely as his account, and it would appear just as clever."

"I suppose," I mumble modestly.

"Let us hope that Gural makes it back in time that you may see him."

"We've been collecting all of the creatures, it's not safe to wander about in the in between anymore," the fairy godmother comments, her smile seems almost to be accusing. Yeah, I still don't like her.

"Most of the others stay in their rooms anyway," Adele motions to the doors, "but Gural always did like to explore, said he was looking for and exit..." she says rather sadly.

I get an idea. "Did he ever mention a bright pink-"

"I found him!" I hear as Falada enters from between two of the doors. Seated on his back is a rather shaken up little Gural, much paler than I remember.

"Gural!" Adele and Xjarl exclaim and rush over to lead him to a chair.

"What happened?" The water woman asks, still confined to her chair.

"Glitches came out of no where," Gural laughs shakily, "Fortunately good old Rill was there to save my hide."

Falada makes a face as if he hates that nickname, but doesn't want to say anything at the moment. I wish I could remember what Gural had said his real name was.

"We are glad you are unscathed," Xjarl smiles, "and the Princess Elle is here as well."

"Miss Elle!" Gural's smile is enough to light a room. "Glad to see you safe and sound!"

"You too!" I instantly feel more comfortable and come closer to the group "Though it sounds like you are the one we should be much more concerned about."

"Not a wit," Gural protests to Xjarl's chuckle. "I am much too slippery to get into too much trouble," he assures me.

"All the same, I will go make you some tea. For my nerves," Xjarl excuses himself before Gural can protest, bending over in half to fit through even one of the wider doors.

"Gural," I ask, remembering my question. "Do you wander about often?"

"Often?" the godmother exclaims, "he's out there all the time! Especially on his turn to wash dishes!"

Gural looks down with a nervous sort of laugh, "Yes, well-"

"Have you ever seen a bright pink tower?" I ask.

"You have seen it too?" he asks excitedly.

"What is this?" Adele asks in some confusion.

"I've seen it twice now in that dark place," I explain to her. "It's this glowing pink tower with, well, what I think is a woman on top."

"It is! It is!" Gural nods furiously. "It is the witch!"

"Don't be ridiculous Gural," the fairy godmother dismisses from where she is now seated in an arm chair.

"I am quite certain of it, Giselle," Gural responds calmly. She simply sniffs and returns to her silence.

"Why haven't you mentioned it before?" Adele asks.

"Mention what before?" Xjarl asks returning with a delicately held teacup in his hands, which he hands to Gural. While the cup had looked minute in his hands, it looks much too big for Gural, but he takes a large awkward sip all the same.

"The magical tower that Elle and him saw," Adele explains.

"Didn't seem to be much use of it, I could never get close enough to actually enter the tower," he says regretfully.

"How did you find it?" the water woman asks. Of course Gural, a natural born story teller starts right in. The others sit back and listen; I take the moment to think.

As he finishes, I turn to Adele with a smile. "I need to find a tree." If there is anyone in this whole bloody curse who will know something about the witch or the tower or whatever is going on, it's probably going to be Arbol.

"Don't be silly," Falada shakes his head, "It is much too dangerous out there."

"Well, how do you guys get to the tales?" I frown.

"Your door whistles and then you have to find the right key," Giselle says shortly and cryptically.

I am about to demand a better explanation when Adele interrupts. "Wait a moment," Adele struggles up and rushes through the simplest white door.

I exchange looks with Gural. "That's the key room," he explains.

"It's how we move between tales," Xjarl explains. "In that room is a library with all the fairy tales and attached to each is a key."

"And you do what exactly with the key once you get it?" I ask.

"You'll see," he promises with a smile.

Adele rushes back out a few minutes later holding a short twisted little key, "Dwarf Longnose" she says proudly.

"Why does the curse even have that one?" I ask, pushing myself up.

She shrugs, "It was the first one I saw."

"Is this goodbye for now, princess?" Xjarl rumbles from his seat.

"Well, I was hoping not to take that long, but Arbol aught to know whatever this tower is, then I can come back and tell you."

They all look strangely at me, and I recall that Arbol keeps mostly to himself. "Umm, I'll be back so long as the curse doesn't drag me off."

"All the same, " Gural reaches out a hand. I hug him.

"It was great meeting you all," I say to all of the creatures present.

Meanwhile, Adele is at the same plain door she had entered before, but this time she is fiddling with the key in the hole.

"After you," she says once she gets it open and holds it open for me.

"This won't start a new tale or anything will it?" I ask, hesitating before I enter.

Adele shrugs, "I've never done anything like this before."

"Here's to hoping," and I walk through.

We enter beside a pond, and the door vanishes as soon as Adele closes it behind her.

"I much prefer that mode of travel," I grin.

"There was a tree that grew the rare herb around here somewhere-" Adele starts towards the nearest tree.

"I'm pretty sure magical wasn't a particular requirement or anything," I shrug. "He just pops up kind of like Albert, whenever I need him."

"I take offense to that," I hear from the willow tree. "I am not at all like Albert."

"There is nothing wrong with Albert," I smile wryly. "In fact, his manners are quite an improvement on yours."

"Manners are merely a cover up," he says with a grin.

"Albert is perfectly sweet, thank you," Adele protests.

"Adele!" Arbol jumps up, finally noticing her behind me. "You look quite as lovely as ever." He pulls a flower out of nowhere, bowing. And what am I? Rotting meat?

He pushes right past me, but the only thing I can do is try to hide my laugher, as his height disadvantage and youth had never been so glaringly apparent before.

"Arbol, we just came here for-" Adele starts but Arbol interrupts.

"It is of course always a pleasure to see you," he says, kissing her hand, and having to look up at her even when he straightens.

"Arbol," I whisper, trying but rather failing to keep my face straight and not laugh. "One, she's taken, and two-"

"I'm calling in all my favors, right now," Arbol tries to shake me off, still smiling at Adele. "Just stand back and watch me work." He mutters, pulling his arm away. I would have chased him, but that pulling sensation in my stomach starts and I am being wrenched to my next tale. I can't even feel angry at Arbol, I just can't stop thinking how funny he is, and how he doesn't even stand a chance. Sorry, Arbol, even if Albert is "polite" he's her age!

Well, finally off to the next tale. I grin, I am finally looking forward to a new tale, because at least one of my questions is about to be answered. Donovan had better keep his promise! Otherwise I will... I'll sic Lexi on him, and tease him mercilessly!

Oh I'm excited.

**Next chapter is on time, promise, it has to be because I already wrote it!**


	50. In the Rain

**Wow, what a great chapter to mark fifty! It doesn't seem like much until I look back at what I've written. 200 pages in word, characters so warped out of their original format I might as well give them new names, the plot changed like eight different times, and I am going to have to change boat loads but I never thought I would get this far! Well, thanks everyone for sticking with! As a warning, this chapter is going to drive you up a wall. X)**

In the Rain

It's raining, of bloody course it would be raining. I'm standing in a dark meadow, rain pouring down in buckets, and I can barely see two feet in front of me. The hem of my dress is caked completely in mud, and my hair is instantly plastered to my head.

My good mood is significantly lessened.

My hand starts aching from the cold and wet.

My good mood is pretty much gone. Well, that was short lived.

I groan and roll my head, squint into the rain, check the bandage on my hand, and lift my skirts and just pick a direction.

I have been walking exactly much-too-long, though I would say the moment I was dumped into this tale was too long, when I see a large figure approaching. The shadowy unknown puts me instantly on my guard, but as I stop to try and get a better look, I identify a horse and rider. Glitches don't ride horses, I think I'm okay on that account. Another few seconds and I smile widely as I identify the figure as Donovan. "Took you long enough!" I call, though I don't know if he hears me, as he doesn't respond.

A few meters closer and he leaps off the horse, barely slowing down, as he strides right up to me. The distance is closed in less time than it takes me to even come up with a comment, his arms are around me before I can think, and suddenly he is kissing me, just at the corner of my mouth. Not close enough that the curse could confuse it for a real kiss, but close enough that I can feel my lips tingling. I can't even think through the first rush. My sluggish brain takes the following moments to work through what is happening.

I am being kissed.

Donovan is kissing me.

Donovan is kissing me of his own free will.

Donovan likes me and is-

I push him away, stumbling back, my arms moving more from shock than from any discomfort-

No, no I mean- I didn't say that. I push away… from Donovan… who was just kissing me… WHAT IS GOING ON!

"What was that?" I shout, though my voice doesn't come out quite as strong as I would have liked.

"That? That, was a kiss," Donovan says, the corners of his mouth tilt up in amusement.

"I- I-.. but- No, why?" I ask, barely even aware of what I am saying, just waiting for him to answer whatever my question is or- or say it was just s joke, or that it was just some sort of strange delusion and it never happened, but I can still feel the warmth of his lips on my cheek... "What?" I repeat, not sure what else to say.

"That was why I couldn't say yes to Jaz."

Oh, curse me. Of course my forcing an answer out of him would just have to make everything that much more difficult!

"Not to Jaz, just to every other girl in the school?" I challenge, hoping to find a flaw.

"I was kind of hoping to make you jealous," he admits.

"So the acting like a jerk was to- what?" I shout over the rain.

"You refused to notice me if I wasn't," he protests as he realizes this wasn't going quite the way he planned. Well what did he expect?! I'm not just going to- he can't expect me to-

"You wait all the way until now to tell me?" I glare.

"Elle, you act like this now and wonder why I didn't say anything when you would have stabbed me if I had tried that a few tales earlier?"

"I might still stab you! I- you can't just- No stop it!" I shout, as he tries to move closer again. "You are not allowed to make my life more difficult!"

"I thought that had been my job from day one?" he teases gently. He takes my hands and my discomfort increases more. "Elle, it's very simple, I love you. And if you would just take a minute to settle down and think- Please?"

I shut my mouth, biting off my retort. He's got that look of his when he seems to know what I'm thinking even better than I do. I take several deep breaths, forcing my self to stay calm and just think logically.

I don't hate him anymore, not remotely. Do I love him? Don't answer yet. He's easy to talk to... when he's not pissing me off. He knows me and still likes me, though that might show some mental instability. He's smart. He's kind. He's handsome, I look up at his face. He looks so confident of my conclusion.

I frown.

Grimm he's vain. How could he be so convinced that he knows better than me? I think of all the frustration that comes even with being friends. We are too similar in the wrong respects. We both have to control things, to win, and we get upset when we don't. How long could I deal with that?

"No."

Donovan is speechless for a moment. Releasing my hands, he frowns for the first time.

"Elle- I-" he closes his eyes and runs his hands anxiously through wet hair.  
He looks disbelievingly down at me, a storm cloud thunders above.

"Could you imagine how frustrating-? We're too competitive and too stubborn!"

"Elle, I'm sorry I never- Please, you've just got to step away from past prejudices. I understand that you're angry with me for not telling you, for complicating things, but-"

"I did," I manage to succeed at keeping my temper... mostly, "and I would appreciate your confidence that I actually can think logically and rationally without jumping to emotional conclusions."

"Elle, please don't do this," he runs his hands though his hair again.

"Do, what Donovan?" I challenge, "Is it so hard to believe that I might turn you down based on a sensible decision? That I might want a peaceful relationship? I recognize my flaws, and I see yours and they don't mix. Why can't I do that? You are a very wonderful person Donovan but you DO have flaws."

"I know I do," his voice rises with mine, "but that's not the point!"

"Really Donovan? Because I'd say that's a pretty big one! I'm not looking for perfection, but-"

"Oh? Because it sounds like you're asking for a person without flaws."

"That's not what I meant Donovan and you know it!" I shout as lighting and thunder crack almost simultaneously above, scaring both me and the horse, but Donovan is too wrapped up.

He paces wordlessly about. Alternating between looking up with a pained expression and anxiously rubbing his face and hair. I crush down that little inkling of guilt.

Finally he looks up."Do you love me?" he asks, face stoic.

I close my eyes. Yeah, yeah, I've read the stories, love conquers all. If I loved him, maybe it would still be worth it. But I've read the stories, if I have to think about it, then it's not... right? Oh what do you know. I'm the expert here.

"No."

Donovan pushes back his hair again, looking defeated.

We stand silently in the rain, neither of us able to look the other in the eye, until a crashing, blinding, heart pounding loudest thunder yet makes me cringe and sends the horse rearing.

"You should take the horse back," Donovan says just loudly enough to barely be made out over the echoing rumble. "I- I need some time to think," he mutters.

I don't feel good about leaving him out here, even for the curse, I don't think the lightning is quite natural, and I have a feeling that the glitches are somewhere about. I just can't stay, I need to think, and I can't do that with Donovan in front of me. I jog over and settle the horse. It's all rather difficult with only one and a half hands, but I hike up the dress and finally get on the horse. I give a final glance at Donovan who is now just staring at the lighting in the distance, and start back off the way he came.


	51. Not a Princess

**Not much to say, other than it looks like this tale is going to be longer and quite different than I was planning, but hey, that's fun. X)**

Not a Princess

I am no good at emotions, analyzing them or wallowing in them, so I decide very early on in the ride that I am not going to think about Donovan. Not a bit other than that I am sorry I had to do that but I made the right decision in the long run I think. I have much more important things to worry about like getting out of the curse, dealing with the tower, I wish I could have gotten some answers out of Arbol about the witch, and I am sure Arbol figures into all of this somehow. I just have to figure it all out.

I mean, it wasn't that the kiss was a bad one or anything, it's just that- No! It wasn't even a kiss and I am not allowed to- to- So yes, it is very flattering that... even at my most vindictive and angry, Donovan lo- liked me. It wasn't love, because when it comes right down to it, love is compatibility and the ability to get along for the rest of you life without killing each other! You just have to keep a rational head about it and that is exactly what I have done. So I don't want to hear your protests about- about how romantic it is to get kissed in the rain or how miserable he looked back there or anything! This conversation is over.

What was I talking about? Because by this point, yes, I am talking out loud to myself. I groan as the rain just keeps pelting down on me and this stupid horse. When do we get to the castle? I need something to keep my mind off of this topic for a little bit.

Grimm, is this going to be awkward for the rest of the curse, not to mention Senior year! It'll be fine, I've gotten to be very good at avoiding him, all I have to do is double my efforts and in a year I won't even remember this whole debacle. That's a lie, but it's a comforting one none the less.

Well, enough of this, the castle has finally been good enough to make itself visible in all the rain and dark. I spur the horse forward and we are out of the rain as fast as the two of us can manage. A puppet is waiting under a wide stone awning to take my horse and I gratefully hand it over.

I look searchingly behind me. Yeah, right, like I'm going to see anyone out in this storm. I wring my hair out and duck through the nearest door.

I'm what looks like a glorified coat room, probably not where I'm supposed to be so I find my way into a narrow sort of hallway.

"Wrong entrance," I hear above my head.

"I really don't care right now Lexi," I squeeze past a torch on the wall. I can't say how much I would really like to just stay there in front of the small but wonderfully warm little bit of fire. How sad is that?

"These are the servant's tunnels," she protests, "You are supposed to make a grand entrance with your prince!"

My mind conjures up an image of Donovan kicking through the doors, carrying me in bridal style, the both of us soaked to the bone. What a poor cliché, I can walk just fine, thank you.

"Donovan's not here right now, we're working with what we've got." The tone of my voice is enough to warn Lexi off any further questioning. Wow, I must sound REALLY scary for that to happen.

We walk in silence through the dusty dimness, until I finally think to ask some of the important questions like, "Which tale is this?"

"The Princess and the Pea," Lexi supplies helpfully.

Finally! I was beginning to think it would never come! That's... Cinderella... Goose girl... Rumpelstiltskin... Little Red... four tales left. Not a lot of time to work with should anything go wrong, but I think I can handle it. I am not about to have gotten this far to let a little thing like not enough time screw things up.

We continue walking. "Why did you only just show up now?" I ask after a pause. Not that I'm not grateful she wasn't there, other wise I'd be getting quite an earful at the moment.

"Rain hurts!" Lexi informs me passionately, "As if that isn't enough, you can't fly for hours afterwards., and that's only if you were lucky enough not to bruise a wing while you were out there. That's days of being grounded." I get the feeling I breached a sensitive topic.

"Well at least there's not that many curses were there seems to be a lot of rain," I shrug.

"Oh there's enough," Lexi assures me. "This one rains the entire time, and there's the Little Mermaid with not only rain but starts underwater! Then you've got Beauty and the Beast, the Crab Prince..."

"Lexi?"

"Sometimes there's a bit of a drizzle in Sleeping beauty"-

"Lexi, we're at the end."

"Oh, well then go ahead and open the door I suppose, though I still think it's a bad idea."

"Adele is hardly going to care if I enter through the main door or the servant's entrance," I shrug, opening the door with some difficulty. I push through the door with my shoulder and topple right into a poorly placed chair. The occupant of the chair goes flying forward.

"Oww," I struggle up, rubbing my shoulder and my elbow and my knee and my head, all of which I managed to bruise at some point in that. "That was not a good idea." I quickly try to right the chair as the person I pushed over flounders about.

Hopefully not that many people saw?

I happen to glance up at a room full of loosely scattered people, I of course, am on a raised dais.

Well great.

I finally take a moment to look at the person I tipped over, just as they are straightening their crown.

That is not Adele.

The Queen turns around. Giselle.

I try and smile sheepishly under the glare she has fixed on me.

Oh Grimm, how did I get stuck with the only magical creature who doesn't seem to like me and who just loves to stick to the script?

"Where's Adele?" I whisper to Lexi, though I almost feel like I am shouting in the oppressive silence and glares.

"Busy," is the only answer I get. "Besides, Giselle likes this part."

Of bloody course she does.

And just to confirm my thought she finally speaks in the most disapproving voice I think I have ever heard, and I get disapproving a lot. "And what exactly are you?!"

A far cry from the fairy godmother.

I straighten up and try my best to look regal through the soaking wet hair, mud caked dress, and clumsy entrance, "A princess." Yeah, I would laugh too.

"You, my girl, are the farthest thing from a princess that I have ever had the misfortune to know."

Her tone catches me so off guard that it takes me a moment to realize that she is playing her part, not ragging on my blatantly un-princess like qualities.

"Well, it's a shame that you think that," I force a smile, "because you are going to have to get used to me as a daughter-in-law."

The crowd of puppets lets out a well timed gasp and a low mumble of unidentifiable whispers. Without even missing a beat, Giselle grabs me and drags me out a side door. I just smile and wave as I am dragged out the ornate doors and into a much smaller room with a few pillars and a set of uncomfortable looking chairs.

I pull from her and flop into one of the chairs. "Alright, Giselle," I address her, "what do you say we just drop the script and work together, huh?"

"How dare you tell such lies about my son," she says, and the look that she gives me along with it makes it very clear that she has absolutely no intention of doing any such ting.

"Come on, what are you getting out of just making this harder?" I press, now standing up again to face her.

"None but a true princess would be appropriate, anything but would just ruin the entire affair. Everyone else just lacks a certain heroic quality that enable quests to succeed." She chooses her words so carefully that I couldn't have avoid the double meaning if I'd covered my ears and shouted. "The position you seem so sure you deserve was not meant to be wasted on common folk. Trust me girl, I have seen many princes and princesses in my time, and you are nothing even close."

"Please, like any princesses would be up to this. You've had droves of princesses and each of them has had their opportunity. I think it's about time you sucked it up and gave me a chance," I say, matching her tone. "I may not be what you were expecting, I know I screw up a bunch, but I'm cursed stubborn."

Giselle purses her lips and glares at me a bit.

I try and stand a little straighter.

"I know of several tests which only a princess could pass. I think it unlikely that you will manage them, but perhaps if you do..." she trails off.

"Then I'm not just getting everyone's hopes up," I finish cheekily for her.

She shoots me a look and whips around in a huff.

I run a hand through my hair and sigh, watching her sweep through the door to the hallway.

"Well, come along!" she shouts back to me as she exits.

I am caught off guard and hurry after her.

It is only with Giselle a good ways ahead and not even glancing back at me that Lexi dares show up again. I am starting to understand her aversion to the fairy.

"What are we doing now?" I whisper.

"I don't know!" Lexi whispers back, pulling at her braids, "This was supposed to be the short version with only the pea test."

I glare up at the crazy fairy I am following. Of course she was going to draw this out and make it harder. I shake my head, I need to do this. Giselle might be a valuable ally. Sure I could do fine without her, but I really don't want her as an enemy.

Lexi flutters along with me until Giselle turns and stops at a pair of doors. By the time she turns to look at me, Lexi is gone.

Giselle smiles at me before she opens the doors, my stomach sinks by I steel my face. I refuse to be intimidated. I can handle whatever she throws at me.

She won't ask me to cook, right?


	52. Everyone's a Critic

**It's short and I almost didn't write it, but in the spirit of Valentines Day and all the romance the season brings, I give you absolutely none! Did you really expect any different from me?**

Everyone's a Critic

I am dragged into a dreary room which might have been nice if there was a sun to shine through the enormous windows that lined most of two sides and the ceiling of the room. I glance out the window and note that Donovan would be very uncomfortable in here. The room is like a balcony with walls.

Giselle is standing at a table with a pile of books in her hand and a smile that I'm not feeling too great about on her face. "The test starts here," she says holding up the books at about head height.

"You know there are much better uses for books than balancing," I mutter, dragging myself over. 'Like throwing at stupid fairies,' I think bitterly.

Thus begins the most horrifically dull yet embarrassing set of hours of my life. Giselle alternately tuts and frowns and laughs all while I pretend to possess some form of grace or at least not complete incompetence. She summons up puppets for me to waltz with, makes me curtsy until my knees ache, I must have walked miles trying to "float across the floor", and the bruises on my hips still hurt from the "fainting with poise session". I am shoved into several dresses that make me look like a joke with my hair all out at odd angles and my hand all bandaged up. I have to recite some poem, stand on one foot, do a double handspring to a flip! Well that last one was a lie, but I probably would have fared better at that one. I start to feel very certain that she is just making these things up.

"Now the singing," the slave driver commands.

"I umm, I don't sing..." I speak up.

"Nonsense," she dismisses instantly.

"No I-" I'm not going to convince her otherwise. "I get embarrassed," I mutter just to myself now. I groan inwardly, I've quite lost the will to really complain by this point.

I KNOW!

I just drag myself over to the window where she positions me. She opens the glass doors and the rain just bursts in. "What? I can't sing much less in the rain!" I protest over the wind as the water flies about the room and all over me.

"A princess' voice can be heard over anything," Giselle insists, her own voice carrying quite well over the howl, "Now sing!"

"Sing what?"

"Pick a song," she rolls her eyes.

"I don't know any!"

"Anything, it doesn't matter as long as it is beautiful and haunting."

I wrack my brain. "Mary had a little lamb- little lamb-"

"Louder!"

"Little lamb!"

"How exactly do you expect to-"

"MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB," my voice flails and cracks and does all sorts of murder to the ears as the rain is pummeling my face, and I can't even keep my eyes open. "WHOSE FLEESE WAS WHITE AS SNOW!"

The rain kind of stopped a moment.

I crack my eyes and am hit with a full on wave of wind and rain. The howling sounds distinctly disapproving. Yeah, yeah, I know I suck! That's why I never ever-

I don't even know how I see it, probably some cruel ideal of Giselle's, but through the rain and the dark, there is Donovan, I am just sure it is him. He turns in out of the rain and through the main doors.

Oh Grimm, he heard me. I slam the glass doors and bolt from the window. Oh Grimm curse it he heard me!

I bite my lip and screw my eyes closed and fight the urge to throw something very large and heavy and sharp and possibly explosive at a certain evil fairy.

As if it's not bad enough that I had to see him at all after...

"Alright, well that was not near what I had in mind," Giselle tuts. Understatement of the year. "But on to the next task, maybe you'll do better at that," she says with fake- no, actually I'll bet it's real cheerfulness. "Now you can reuse that fainting you tried before," Giselle says with that awful little smile of hers as she summons a spinning wheel.

I look from her to the spinning wheel and back to her. I wipe the rain off of my face and look her dead in the eye, "No."

"Just a little prick."

"Not going to happen, Giselle. I'm done." I shoot back.

"Do you want to prove you are a princess or not?" Giselle says through her teeth.

"I should think that it is painfully clear by this point that I may be the farthest thing from a princess that you can get without being a psychotic apple wielding step-mother!"

"So you admit that you are not a princess then?"

"When did I EVER say that I was?" I shout.

"And you agree that you are not fit to-"

"No, you stop right there. Because you do not get to try and put words in my mouth," I cut her off. "I am more than capable of defeating this curse and you know it!"

Giselle just glares. Who is she to question me by this point?! I have gotten so far and done so much and everyone else seems to think I can do it, and I don't need anyone else adding to that niggling little doubt in the back of my mind, because I am having enough trouble shoving it down as it is, thank you!

"I am done playing your game," I say much more calmly than I feel, "Because by this point I am pretty sure that it stopped being me trying to convince you that I can beat this curse and it started being you trying to convince me that I can't!"

Giselle turns bright red.

"I'm doing you a favor, I am doing all of the creatures in here a favor," she says stonily, "You come prancing in here, claiming that you will free everyone and when you don't, when you fail, it will only be all the more crushing to everyone. Do you want that on your conscience? The sooner you accept that the sooner you can just get out, instead of being trapped in here for eternity, just wasting away like the rest of us! I have seen too many princesses with the life sucked out of them, so just kiss that boy of yours and-"

CRASH!

Every single window in the entire room shatters at the exact same moment and sends Giselle tumbling forward as the wind and the glass and the rain all rush towards us as if with a vengeance.

I don't even think. I grab Giselle and sprint for the door.

Locked.

I slam my entire weight into the door. The only result is a bruised shoulder and my hand starts throbbing again. That's when I hear the all too familiar screaming, hissing, sound of something breaking irreparably.

Glitches.

I push Giselle towards the door, "See if you can open it!" I shout as I make a dash for the table. I grab a book and bolt back, throwing down a chair in front of us as my only sad means of defense.

I glance up at the swarming storming whirl of glitches gathering above us. I am going to need a lot more than _A Guide to Toadstools._


	53. Try to Relate

**I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I love it when that happens. There's a bunch of information for that silly plot thing that keeps popping up! I don't know if it will help alleviate the confusion or make it worse, let me know if something doesn't make sense, it's supposed to be vague, but not nonsensical.**

**Up to this point, I have been fortunate enough to have met nothing but kind, encouraging, and nice people, and I love you all dearly. Recently, however, I received some rather unsavory reviews. I wouldn't normally bother mentioning this as I have no patience for bullies, but since it kind of applies to my little moral of this chapter(Didn't know I tried to sneak those in there, did ya?), I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk about that sort of thing. If you just want to get to the story, just tl;dr and skip down, I don't mind. X) **

_**It was a bright sunny day, the birds were singing, the sky was blue, my brother's girlfriend had brought over warm cookies, and I was practically singing! I sat unassumingly down to my computer and opened up my email. 'Oh my!' I think with a smile, 'Some kind soul has left me more reviews than I know what to do with!' I opened them eagerly.**_

_**I buzzed down the first review and my smile drooped. 'Well, that's okay, I've gotten a few reviews leaning to the harsher side of help. I'll just stow away the advice for the future and see if they liked the next chapter better.'**_

_**By the time I reached the fifth review I was livid, but I forced myself to read them with that same morbid curiosity of watching a car crash. I reached the end at twenty five, and I was ready to wage war! I was waving banners, collecting alliances, and building my arsenal of witty comebacks. I was filled to the tips of my reddening ears with of all sorts of righteous anger! After all, who was this person to think that they had any right to insult and criticize and ruin my day? I wrote for myself, I wrote because it was fun, I wrote to make other people smile! I had no responsibility to please them, this pompous empty-headed inconsiderate... (I'll leave it at that because I am sure you all know the exact feeling.)**_

_**I railed and sought the assurances and willing ears of my friends. I composed a strongly worded reply in my head, and we all had a good laugh about what their predicted response would be. I didn't send it.**_

_**At first, it was because it wasn't strong enough. I wanted them to run home with their tail between their legs, crying and with a mental scar that would never fully heal! As I cooled down and got distracted by my friends, I remembered that silly little phrase my dad is always telling me "Never wrestle with a pig, because you both get dirty but the pig likes it. Then no one can tell who is the real pig." I would deny them the pleasure of knowing they had gotten me angry! I would take the high road! I'd tell them with all the politeness I could muster and then some, that I hope their bad day got better, but taking it out on me...(I'll stop there too, because I am sure most of you know that feeling too.) I didn't send that either.**_

_**On a whim, I read through their profile. Suddenly, I had to deal with the fact that this was a real person. Judging by their tone, I wasn't just the victim of their bad day, this was just them. Just like they didn't have to like my story, I didn't have to like them, but that was no reason to write mean things to them or think that I was superior because I could play the polite game better. I ended up sending them the same link that I will suggest to you- "xkcd. com/438/".**_

_**The internet is full of jerks and inconsiderate people and while we shouldn't let them get away with being so, neither should we unconsciously condone their actions by playing the same games that they do. The next time you are confronted with a jerk on the internet or in life, you can get angry, go ahead and think all sorts of mean things about them! We're all human. In the end, just try to remember that you don't have to agree or get along, but you can remind yourself and them that you are both people and there is no need to say, out loud, something that is only meant to insult. People don't change over night, so if you are dealing with a real jerk they probably won't listen, but maybe someone else will. Either way, I promise you will feel better, and the world will be a little bit brighter.**_

Try to Relate

I stare up at the glitches with a lead weight where my stomach used to be. What was I going to do? The only thing I'd managed to do successfully up to this point was run away. As far as I knew there was no surefire way to get rid of them! Nothing- except that knife... My hand twinged at the very thought of it, but it had felled a few of those-

A few glitches fly at me, interrupting my line of thought as I beat them away with the book. It's a particularly ineffective weapon, but I get a few good thumps in.

It's not like the knife was any good anyway if I didn't have it-

Cursed little! No, you stay away from Giselle! I jump after one trying to sneak by me.

That stupid knife only seems to pop up when it feels like it!

I glance over at Giselle and recognize that mean manipulative look of hers. I wouldn't want to be that door knob.

More of the glitches swing by to help their friends and it's all I can do to keep them out of Giselle's way.

I miss and get one right in the face. Curse it! I yank the thing off of me and pitch it against the wall, just in time to whack one- urk!

I topple down as the glitches organize and yank my feet out from beneath me! I beat at the black mist at my ankles, an indeterminate mess of beady little eyes and arms and teeth.

No! Grimm _curse it_ get off of me! Get off! Get off! GET OFF!

I swing the book frantically at those swarm towards my face, kicking and flailing and biting.

I hear Giselle cursing at the glitches behind me and I somehow still manage to think that she's is not using very princess like language.

I roll across the floor and kick as if on fire, and with a sudden burst of adrenaline fueled strength I yank myself up and kick and tear the glitches away from myself.

"We're not getting out that way!" I scream to Giselle, trying to wrestle my book away from a few glitches, only for it to rip and send me staggering back to the door. "Albert!" I shout desperately, "Albert, do something! Send help! Albert!"

Arbol is probably distracting the both of them- oh I am going to kill someone!

Let's just hope it's not myself.

"Come on!" I shout tugging Giselle away from the door.

"How exactly are we going to-"

But there's no time left to explain, "Follow me!" I shout and sprint right for the center of the massive black whirlwind. I feel all sorts of grasping, raking little fingers and cold empty mist. I see their horrible toothy grins even as I run through the thickest darkest part. I grit my teeth and choke on a scream of rage or fear, I'm not sure-

Suddenly, I am through and I can see again. Just in time before I run through the broken window, soaking the room with it's spray of rain. I hardly even think how bad of an idea this is before I snatch a straggler glitch and vault out the window. A wet piece of glass slips under my foot just as I jump and instead of a controlled jump I go tumbling out into the open air.

The glitch is shrieking and screaming and scrabbling at my hands, but just as I hoped, it is trying to fly up and away. I fall, and as if in slow motion, I can feel the glitch straightening out my fall as the air flies past. Then the ground appears in such a rush I can barely even react. My knees give out as I hit and I tumble to the ground, the glitch is jerked out if my hands as my world spins. Everything hurts just a moment before everything goes numb.

My hand is on fire.

I grit my teeth and roll away just as Giselle lands down in a slightly more controlled manner than myself. Maybe it was magic, maybe it was just that she didn't slip, either way, she looks just as disheveled and almost as beat up as I feel.

I hear the glitches scream above as they try to figure out what happened.

"Let's go!" I pant as I struggle up and try to pull Giselle up as well. She slips some in the mud but we are up and running in a matter of moments.

I catch a flash of light in front of us as the main door opens and outlines more dark shapes. I falter and look behind as the glitches start to swarm out of the window. I look forward again and am hit with an unbelievable wave of relief. Running towards us wielding everything from swords and clubs to wooden spoons and footstools, is every servant, every noble, every last puppet in that entire castle. I nearly cry with joy but end up making some sort of strangled laugh as I watch them all storm past us and attack the glitches, angry mob style.

Giselle and I collapse against the nearest wall and just watch as the glitches crackle and scream and fly up to disappear into the sky.

"Thanks Albert," I manage out, as the puppets slowly drop their arms and resume their normal demeanors as if they walk about in the rain and mud all the time.

"My queen," one of the better dressed ones wanders over to us, "How pleasant to see you here."

I laugh maniacally as if it were the funniest thing I'd heard.

Giselle lets out a nervous chuckle.

We look at each other. "You're a wreck," I comment.

"You don't look so different," she retorts.

I laugh again. The laugh turns into a groan as I bang my head against the wall and my hand starts throbbing and I realize I can't feel the larger part of my limbs.

We sit in silence as the rain pours down, watching the puppets wander back inside. I don't think I can stand. I wonder how I am going to get inside, and I still need to climb a supposed mountain of mattresses, find Albert's magic knife, and...

"Perhaps-" I hear quietly from beside me and my thoughts quiet instantly.

"Perhaps, I have misjudged you." I almost laugh again. Just as I was starting to feel that this curse must have been my biggest failure yet!

"'Perhaps', being an important part of that, but-" I don't dare interrupt with any number of sarcastic comments running through my head, "Just maybe you and your... unconventional methods are what we need. We both know you are not a princess and will never be, but-" she took a deep breath, "I will trust you to get us out of this curse."

Well, thanks ever so much for that. All I needed was to almost get the both of us killed, but hey, if it gets her on my side, I'm too tired to complain.

"See that you don't let us down," she adds. "Of course, I'm certain that I am going to have to help you out of all the coming messes I am sure you are going to get yourself into, after all, you didn't fight all those glitches off on your own merit, you _were_ enormously lucky Albert heard you. We did survive."

I grit my teeth but just shake my head. This was just Giselle's way of accepting me, I couldn't expect miracles of kindness, especially since what she said was true. The farther I got in this curse, the more apparent it became that I needed all the friends I could get.

Wait, something didn't fit in what she just said. "How do you know Albert?" I demand.

"Oh please, you think just because Adele and those lesser denizens don't remember who he was, that I have forgotten? Fairies have magnificent memories I will remind you."

"But Albert doesn't even remember how he got here!" I say, getting so excited I almost don't remember my discomfort.

She shifts rather uncomfortably, "I didn't say I knew how he got here," she admits finally. "But you were here for the entire life time of the curse, weren't you?"

"Yes," she sniffs, "I was _here_, I have no idea what was going on outside of the curse. All I know is that he showed up one day with us-"

"Wait, everyone knew him? Then how did NO ONE else remember?" I say stubbornly.

"Oh they probably remember a lost little prince, but none of them were involved afterwards-"

"Prince?!" I interrupt again and get a frustrated look for it.

"Yes a prince, but before you ask, I don't know of where or when or how, all I know is that Albert showed up one day and none of us could figure out why," she sighed. "We all had our suspicions. He didn't have a true love, the witch was trying to cover-up a failure... I took him under-wing, of course. Poor boy, he was in quite a bit of trouble and none of us could figure out why."

She paused and I almost fell over I was so engrossed in the story. Here were my answers, FINALLY!

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this," she mused a moment, "but I can't see how it would do anything but help by this point. Someone who shouldn't have, had taken an interest in Albert. I was never told who, the witch only said that we had to help him disappear. That was, of course, way back in the beginning, when all of us were still on good terms with the witch, so I was willing to help, since I had the most experience with helping people disappear. Cinderella stories used to be my specialty," she sighed as if remembering them, I barely dared to breathe for fear that she wouldn't continue. "The witch gave us a knife, told him to stab himself with it, told him nothing would happen, and if the girl thought he was dead, that he would rather be dead... she would give up on him. It was supposed to be our last assignment. As soon as Albert was in the clear, we would all go back to our lives.... So the witch and I set him up, the witch made sure the girl was watching through some mirror of hers. I don't remember the specifics but the girl's voice came from the black, she didn't sound too happy. She addressed Albert, tried to sweet talk him into- something, it didn't make sense at the time. He told her no, I saw the knife, then he was on the ground. The girl was furious, the curse started shaking, I heard dark magic being worked, then the witch popped in and hurried us both to that tower of Albert's. We set him up in there, but after the knife, he had no memory of who he was. The witch didn't want to see him after that, I think she was guilty. Well, she aught to have been, because judging by where we all are now, she messed up something terrible."

She stops.

Finally, I figure that she is done, and I dare a question. Or many."Where did the witch go? How did Albert become the puppet master? Is that why the curse never ended?-"

"I don't know," she snaps.

I sigh, but don't push the subject. I want answers, more of them, but this will suffice for now. I glance at Giselle out of the corner of my eye, she looks so different from every other time I've seen her. Her hair is askew, everything about her is disheveled, wet and muddy, and she has this tired look in her eye, like she's upset that things managed to spiral so far our of her control. I can relate with that.

She doesn't like to appear so vulnerable, and I can understand that too. I look forward into the darkness. "Thank you, Giselle," is all I say.

Silence presses in, again, but this time, it is a much more comfortable one as the both of just stare thoughtfully into the distance and let the rain come down.


	54. An Excess of Mattresses and Thoughts

**Short and kind of light on action, but it says a lot. Oh, and I estimated, twenty mattresses is something like two stories! No pun intended.**

An Excess of Mattresses and Thoughts

I have no idea how I got to my room, much less to the top of my skyscraper of mattresses. I am so tired. I vaguely remember being shoved to the top by several attendants. Apparently they've never heard of a ladder. They had to put me in a cavernous room in order to fit all twenty mattresses on top of one another. I think it was a ballroom at some point. It echoes strangely. I turn over.

I'm a little bit worried about falling off. I can be a rather violent sleeper, on the other hand I am so exhausted I don't plan on not moving till next week, as soon as I fall I sleep. The tower sways too. I suspect there is a draft. I rearrange the blankets.

I can't feel a lot right now. I can't decide if it is because I am tired or if it is because of the curse. Can't feel the pea either. You know, I think it's got to be scientifically impossible to feel the tiny little vegetable from all the way up here. I flip the pillow.

The pea is probably squished any way. How in the two worlds was the original princess supposed to be able to feel the pea? Maybe she was allergic, and that was why she couldn't sleep. No, it was probably all the weird echoes of the big room. How is anyone supposed to be able to sleep here anyway!? I turn back to the other side.

So, Albert is a prince. I could kind of see that. Still, who's prince was he? How did he end up as the puppet master? Who was the girl? What did she want? I suppose one possibility might have been that she was in love with him. Why couldn't he just say no? Did Albert have a connection to the original royal family that commissioned the curse? But Gural said that they were all girls. Maybe he was one of their true loves? But then where did the original princess go? Though, he probably isn't a real prince. He's a prince in the same way that everyone(excepting Giselle) keeps calling me a princess. I mean, of all the billions of people in the two worlds, what are the chances that two royals will actually be paired up? Though, when you think about it like that, what were the chances that I would be paired up with someone from school? Though, that was probably just further mistakes caused by glitches and me not casting the curse correctly. Donovan loves- Well, that is a bit of a coincidence. Or maybe it's not. I will bet, the curse, in it's weakened state, found the closest strong emotions for me, and latched on to that. Donovan told me his feelings, but it wasn't true love. I know it wasn't. Please don't get all righteous on me and say I'm denying it. I'm not. Donovan is not my true love.

My stomach sinks. I clutch the pillow tighter. Why does that come as a blow? I search my mind. Maybe- Maybe on some level, I liked the idea of being told who my true love was. To be given a quick and absolute answer to something that is the cause of heart-ache and confusion and pain... That would be nice. Maybe it's cheating, but if all the fairy tales can do it, why couldn't I? But no, all I get is a romantic situation that is still, if not more so, as hopelessly muddled and pessimistic as it was before. That hurt.

I need to get Albert's knife! I sit up abruptly and throw off the blankets. Lowering myself over the edge I start climbing down with more energy than I should rightfully have. I can't believe I almost forgot! Especially with thinking about Albert this whole time! Which mattress did he say it was under? Middle somewhere? I reach my hand randomly between the mattresses and wiggle around. What if I miss it this way? It's not a very effective method. I think for a moment and climb back up towards the top, the tower swaying dangerously below me. I reach the top and flip the top mattress completely off the stack. It flips and tumbles all the way down and lands with a resounding "whump".

It's actually quite satisfying.

I scan the next mattress down. Nothing. The next one makes a sort of "hu-thump" and knocks over a poorly placed chair.

I manage about half before my arms hurt from the awkward tossing, while still trying to hold onto the tower. I clamber back up the much shortened bed and relax for a moment.

Oh man, my back hurts, who'd have thought that just tossing mattresses would be such hard work? I shift, trying to get comfortable. Oh, come on! A tower of mattresses, you'd think that at the least it would be good for your back. I lay awkwardly for a while, then give up, decide that my arms are better, and climb off to flip the next mattress.

I can't fight a grin at the irony. There, right below the previous mattress, is a pea. I laugh. Oh, if only Giselle were here! I pick up the little misshapen pea and look at it. Well, it certainly wasn't that that I was feeling, just my general discomfort, but still- It's pretty funny!

I toss the pea and continue down the stack. I tip a few more down and "ring-clatter-clatter-whump", well, that wasn't the normal sound. I jump over and off the other side of the bed and land in the strewn collection of beds. I root around looking for the source of the clattering sound- There!

I dive for the knife.

I hold it up in front of me. Pretty wicked looking. I turn it some, then on a whim, test the edge with my thumb. I feel nothing. I press harder, then run it across my palm. That's pretty cool. Useless in a fight, but cool. I flip back onto a mattress and just lay sprawling there a while, trying to either sleep or catch the light with the knife.

My exhaustion catches back up with me, but only seems to apply to my limbs, my mind refuses to slow down and fall asleep.

I wish I could still talk to Donovan. If we were still friends, he would love to hear about the pea. I'd show him the offending vegetable and tell him how my back had hurt from tossing mattresses right before I found it. Then he would grin and call me "Your Majesty of-" bad tasting veggies or bedding or something. Then I would call him "His Majesty of Making Up Bad Names." He would joke that two such powerful nations should unite and-

I groan I flop back. Curse it.

I hear footsteps out side my door. It isn't- Is it?

Without even thinking, I jump up from the pile and run over to the door. I peek out in the direction the footsteps were going. A clone turns back out of sight around the corner.

My shoulders slump. What was I expecting exactly?

"Elle-"

I spin around with about the same surprise in my face as there was in his tone. Of course it's Donovan there, thin lipped and looking anywhere but me. "You should be asleep," is all he says and continues past.

My mind rushes, maybe if I just pretend like it never happened? That would be fine, right? Just like in Midsummer Night's Dream?

I run after him. "I found the pea!" I chatter, "I was throwing mattresses off and I was uncomfortable because there were so many of them to throw off and I was high up, you wouldn't have liked it, not that you would be on my two story high bed-" I trail off as he turns around.

His look very clearly says, 'Don't do this to me'. But the pleading look in his eyes from before is gone. It is a demand.

I try to swallow around the enormous lump in my throat.

"Go back to sleep, Elle."

"What are you doing up anyway?" I ask, wavering between testy at being told what to do and reluctant to hurt him.

"Wasting time," he says shortly. "Since I don't seem to be able to do anything useful."

I can't think of anything to say to the contrary. I squirm under the silence and the acute vacuum of something that has always been in his tone.

He turns away.

"I couldn't sleep!" I blurt, as if it will explain all the confusion and complexities that I am feeling.

He keeps walking.

I bite my lip. How did I screw this up so bad? I feel like the world is spinning out of control and I have even less power than I've ever had to make it right. Even now I am at a loss to even guess what he is feeling. How can I say we are so similar and yet I still have no idea what he is feeling? But we both do that, don't we? He hides his thoughts in the same way that I hide weakness.

I weigh following him and going back, but the choice it taken from me as the tale starts to fade. Curse it! I admitted that I had a bad night and couldn't sleep! Technically, that completes the tale.

I groan and hit my head. Stupid.


	55. Seeds of Sensibility

**I FINALLY had a good time writing Arbol. Sorry about last week, I had half of this chapter typed, and I barely finished it this week. Hell week started early for my school's musical, and all my track buddies still want me at practice... ahg.**

Seeds of Sensibility

I am shoved right back into the blackness to wait. I hear a hiss behind me and I choke on a scream of frustration because I don't want to do this right now! I want to curl into a ball and just be miserable. I want to cry. I want to march right up to Donovan and- and do what?

Khssss-Whoosh.

I guess I'll never get to decide. Some early, unlucky glitch comes screaming up beside me. I grab it and shake its scrawny little neck.

"This is all your fault for coming into the curse and making trouble and screwing everything up!" I shout at the thing.

It's not it's not the glitches fault. Sure they make it harder but it's all m-

The glitch just hisses and tries to bite at me. I shake it harder!

"Stop it!" I scream shrilly. "Stop attacking me and biting and making everything difficult! Just stop it! STOP IT!"

The glitch hesitates and for a brief moment I am shocked into silence as well that shaking and screaming actually worked for once. The feeling is fleeting as the glitch claws for my face again.

I glare furiously at the horrid little thing. Where's that knife? Where's that stupid glitch cutting knife that seems to follow me here?

I throw the glitch as far away as I can, screw my eyes shut, and think 'knife, knife, knife'. I see the glistening blade that seems to glow even in the dark, the jet black hilt that swirls and contorts in on itself, and then, it is in my hand. I open my eyes and grin maniacally at the glitch. It recognizes the blade instantly and swerves away. Running off into the darkness with it's tail between it's legs.

I collapse, shaking.

"Neat trick." Arbol's voice floats down from somewhere above me.

"Just get me out of here, please Arbol?"I moan into my knees.

"Fine, fine," he says from much closer. I look up abruptly and am surprised by my still dark but remarkably different surroundings. I sit on a little island of grayish light and moss surrounded by a misty sea of black fog, but it's not the same malicious black of the glitches. The fog patiently laps up on the island like little waves, trying to get at the little signs of life on th island, but falling away each time.

I look up into the full branches of a twisty little tree. Pomegranates.

"You want one?" Arbol asks, appearing beside me.

I jump. "Yeah, right. I know the myth," I chide him. "This isn't the next tale, is it?" I ask, looking around.

"Nope, just my favorite," he shrugs, picking up one of the fallen fruits and juggling it a bit, "And it's one of the last safe ones. The glitches haven't reached the tales on the edges."

I nod quietly and choose to stare at the knife in my hands rather than respond.

I'm not sure how long I sit there, but Arbol lets me sit silently. Finally, I hear him scrabbling with the pomegranate a bit.

"Would you like me to open it?" I offer, waving the knife.

"No, no, I can do it," he glares at the fruit, digging his nails in.

"I would think you should be able to just magic it open, you control everything in here, don't you?" I prod.

"Well, this is a real tree, actually," Arbol says, taking the fruit to his teeth for a moment to open it. "Pomegranates are too sensible to put up with magic, anyway," he shrugs.

I quickly grab for one and after only a little difficulty opening it, sure enough, they taste like a normal fruit. No mixed up flavors, no special Lexi concoction, no cardboard and sawdust, just good normal fruit. A little taste of normal, no magic involved, I think that is exactly what I needed at the moment.

"One month for every seed you eat," Arbol grins with that mischievous curve to his lips.

"Stuff it, Arbol," I roll my eyes, and spit the tiny little pit out at him. Just to be safe. "How'd your little meeting with Adele go?" I tease.

He pouts. "She'll come around," he nods, rubbing his nose.

"You'd make a terrible realizer," I chuckle, prying a few more seeds from my pomegranate.

"Would not!" Arbol asserts instantly.

"Every time a pretty girl shows up, you'd just forget who she's supposed to be paired with, and there are a lot of pretty girls."

"No! I would be the best realizer ever!" he grins, "Look at all the great romantic moments I magic-ed up for you!"

"Oh yeah, thanks a bunch for those," I roll my eyes, catching the hint that I am not pretty enough, "But I think your efforts would be better used helping me with Adele and Albert."

"He does need a lot of help," Arbol smiles leaning back against the tree.

"He's doing better than you did!"

"Hasn't even kissed her yet," he says, ignoring me.

"He- what?" I sigh. Oh, Albert. "You're telling me he hasn't found a single opportunity for even a little peck on the cheek?"

"Oh he's had plenty of opportunities." Arbol replies. "He's probably-"

"Elle! Are you safe?" I hear Adele from above. The both of us shut-up, real quick.

"Yeah, we're-" I glance around once just to be sure, "We're safe."

"It was no problem, really," Arbol adds.

"The waiting room was attacked," she explains from above. "Albert got us all to the tower, he's trying to put up fortifications while Giselle holds them off."

"Giselle?" it shoots out before I can stop it.

"Well, yeah, she normally takes care of stuff like that," Adele sounds confused that I should ever think otherwise.

Of course.

"Right, and uh- where's Donovan?" I add.

A pause. "We couldn't find him anywhere in the curse."

I bite my lip. "No where?"

"Well, we'd never really paid attention to where he went before, and now-"

"Can I-" I hear muffled as if in the background of a phone call.

"Elle?"

"Albert?"

"Right, um, we can't find him, but I can't figure there is anyway he could have gotten out."

"Maybe he's just visiting the real world, like I would in the beginning?" I offer.

"That's probably it," Albert agrees, and I can almost see him nodding furiously.

"Curse it, what is that thing doing in here?" I hear in the background again.

"Oops," Albert says.

"Go, go back to what ever you're doing, we're fine," I assure him.

"We're going to try to send you to one of the safer tales," Adele takes over again.

"Right, thanks," I nod.

"See you soon, Elle, well, maybe-"

I slump against the tree. Find something else to think about.

"Giselle," I mutter, "She was just testing me."

"She does that," Arbol finally speaks up again.

"I thought she'd told me everything," I sigh.

Arbol laughed.

"What?" I snap, running a hand through my hair. "What do you know?"

"No way," Arbol shakes his head, "I don't know what she's told you, and it's not my place to tell you more."

"Can you tell me anything?" I practically growl.

"What do you know about the creation of the curse?" he asks, taking a completely different direction, but a useful one at least.

"Gural said it was made for a bunch of princesses to make them marry. No one knows quite what happened, but they think one of the princesses got trapped so the curse could never end."

"Nope, well, for that last bit at least." But that's all he says. "What do you know about Albert?"

I could have strangled him, but I answer anyway. "He might have been a prince who was paired with one of the original princesses, then someone- uh... wanted something from him, and he stabbed himself with that special knife."

"And what do you know about the witch?"

I glare, hoping he'll get to his point soon. "She made the curse for the king and put all the magical creatures in here. She was completely crazy, and she probably got trapped here too when Albert did. No one has seen her since, so she's probably in that tower thing I can't get to." I look at Arbol and remember a little more, "And she had a daughter you didn't like."

"That middle bit there was wrong," Arbol smiles as if he is being helpful.

"Wait! Which middle bit?!" I quickly try to recall what I'd just said, but its no use. "Curse it, Arbol, is that supposed to be helpful?"

"Well, maybe not to you," he shrugs.

I groan, but I don't have any time to try and get more out of him as my vision starts to darken.

"Well, thanks Arbol, you've been as helpful as ever," I say sarcastically, standing up.

"Have so!" he grins, relaxing against his tree, "Have you seen your hand recently?"

I look down, and just catch a fiery red scar on my hand. It's not healed, but it's closer.

I look up for him, but he's gone.


	56. Contentment

**I've been gone a while, family stuff, but here's an update. I'm not sure if I'll get another one up by Sunday, but I'll try really hard. I feel like I owe you some extra after so long.**

Contentment

I am landed in front of another well, but this one it beside a castle rather than in the woods like The Frog Princess was. I look down at my patched but still brightly colored servant's dress, then around at the over saturated flowers and shrubbery.

It looks peaceful enough.

A tree shivers in the wind and I spin to face it. I see the flash and feel the reassuring weight of the glitch cutting knife, still in my hand.

I am too on edge.

Adele said that they would try to send me to a safe tale. Try, being a very important word there. I force my self to take a deep breath and lower the knife.

The flowers ruffle a bit. The grass twitches. Clouds pass silently by. A breeze raises goosebumps on my arms, and a bird twitters somewhere in the distance. I wish I could make out the deep shadows in the woods crowding up in front of me.

After another long look around I finally sigh and roll the knife up into the front of my little apron for safe keeping.

Bzz-Whoosh!

"AHHH!" I scream and dive to the ground as something whizzes past my ear.

A high pitch scream echoes in response.

"Lexi!" I shout, "Don't scare me like that!"

"Scare you?" Lexi demands, "I'm the one who had to sneak past the glitches to get here!"

"You didn't have to," I mutter, offering her a finger to help her up.

"Don't you tell me how to do my job now too!" Lexi squawks. "I have had quite enough of an earful from you and Adele and Giselle and your Prince and-"

"Donovan is here?" I interrupt.

"Oh, no, I was talking about several tales earlier, haven't talked to him since, but he is just as bad as the rest of you!" she sulks, dusting herself off a bit before she buzzes up to nose level.

"Besides, it's my job to tell you tell you what to do!" she nods possessively. "How else are you going to know you are in Snow White if I'm not here?"

I pale. Oh, that is a bad one to get stuck in when Donovan has gone AWOL.

"Which one?" I ask, thinking quickly.

"I just told you!" Lexi says indignantly.

"No, no, which version of Snow White?" I demand impatiently.

"What does it matter?" she shrugs.

"Which version is it, Lexi!?" I shout.

"Disney," she pouts. Thank Grimm, that means he should be within ear shot. Maybe.

"Donovan!" I shout out into the thick shaded foliage of the surrounding woods. "Donovan, I know you can hear me!" I lie. It's more of just an idle hope. "You told me before, that you would rather at least be friends than lose me for any other reason," I swallow hard and try to keep my voice from wavering, "Was that just a lie, too?"

I leave the question to hang in the air.

A breeze through the leaves is the only response I get. I sigh. It was worth a try I suppose. I bite my lip. So, either he really did find a way out of the curse, or I really and finally have managed to drive him away...

"Alright, where to?" I turn to Lexi.

"Well... you are supposed to wait around until the Queen's hunter comes to take you into the woods," Lexi responds.

"I am sick and tired of waiting," I tell her.

"You can't- Oh why am I even bothering?" Lexi mutters to herself as I march off into the shadowed foliage.

I can tell the curse is about as frustrated at my lack of cooperation as Lexi is, however, it can do a little more to punish me for it. My dress has several new rips, my hair has been tugged every which way, I beat a quick retreat from several vindictive woodland creatures, and have been purposely tripped sixteen- Oof.

Seventeen times.

I kick the stupid tree root that jumped right out of the ground. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd waited for the hunter," Lexi informs me.

"You are such a bad liar, Lexi," I tell her. "Your wings skip a beat whenever you do it."

It is worth the look on her face, even if I just made it up. "They do not!"she protests, as I get snagged by yet another branch.

"Then why are you being so careful to keep your wing beats even now?" I say cheekily, getting a particularly painful tug for my disentangling efforts. She turns bluish-green and sputters something.

"Besides, I've seen the movie, Lexi. I studied the movie. In fact, we had a whole semester on Disney movies," I assure her. "The running through the scary dark forest was unavoidable. Now, when do we reach the cute little dwarf house so that I can rest?"

"How should I know," Lexi mumbles, "you're the one who saw the movie," she says bitterly.

"Oh Lexi, don't be like that," I tease, "I'm just naturally impatient is all."

She doesn't respond.

"I'll clean up the house a little when I get there," I wheedle.

I think she rolls her eyes. "Well, then you are going the wrong way, as usual," she sniffs, and ducks under a large branch, which somehow manages to hit me, even when I make a particular effort to avoid it.

The forest gets progressively brighter and more friendly looking. The next squirrel I come across doesn't even attempt to kill me. We come out into a sunny little clearing around a cottage with a cute little flower garden and gaudy little carpentry, and doors and windows and everything about a foot too small. I sigh, because of course I am a little more than average height.

"Alright, so I promised you something like dishes?" I look up to Lexi.

"And dusting and sweeping and scrubbing and making beds and cook- well, maybe not that one."

"How about we settle on dishes and sweeping and the spider webs, and the animal friends can take care of the rest?" I bargain.

Lexi gives a snort, "You don't even have to do the spiderwebs and the dishes if you can call the animals with your cleaning song," I get the feeling I've made a bad deal. "Well, go in," Lexi grins, showing each sharp little tooth.

I swallow and walk up to the door, thinking of all the ways I could kill whatever jerk came up with the idea that princesses should all be excellent singers.

Well, here's my first obstacle, the door is locked. Looks like I actually got the sensible dwarfs who have the foresight to prevent any old wanderer from wandering right into their house. Curse it.

And here I am without a lock pick.

I jiggle the handle a bit, but the door is definitely locked. I check above the door, under the welcome mat, and peer into the daffodils.

"Door's locked, Lexi."

"Not again!" She groans. "Gural..." she mutters like a curse.

"What?" I hear behind me and spin around to grin at the familiar face. There stands Gural, at the head of an odd assortment of short little puppet men, grinning that grandfather grin.

"You're not supposed to lock the door!"

"Seems a rather silly thing not to. You never know who could just wander in," he winks at me.

"Hi Ho?" One of the dwarfs with a floppy blue hat and a messy little beard peeks out from behind Gural.

"Now is that any way to greet a princess?" Gural chides, bowing towards me and signaling the others to follow suit.

"Oh, Gural," I chuckle as the other six dwarfs practically trip over their beards to follow suit.

"Come on, don't stand about like bumbling idiots!" Gural orders. The dwarfs all scramble about but can't seem to decide on anything useful to do. "Can't do a thing on their own," Gural confided to me with an over dramatic sigh.

"I don't suppose you're ever going to let us in," Lexi snaps at him.

"Oh! Of course, how silly," Gural's smile returns and he taps head, pulling a key out of his pocket. "Come in, come in," he says and limps to the door to unlock it.

"Gural! What's wrong with your leg?" I demand the moment I notice. I'd like to rush over and help, but I can't see him quite appreciating that.

"My leg?" he looks down, "Oh you mean my walk. Please come in and sit down! Nothing is wrong with my leg, quite as well as the day I out ran that Big Bad Wolf. Come on you dolts, 'come in' means you too! I'll have to tell you that story someday," he hobbles right into the undersized room, very sparsely decorated with mostly just a rough long table and staircase at one end, and a miniature kitchen at the other. I have to duck a bit to get in, but as long as I slouch a bit I don't even feel too claustrophobic. "Bit of an embarrassing story actually, I wish I could tell you that I was injured while fighting the glitches. Sit down, princess, please," he pulls out a seat for me, and I don't even think to protest as I sit. "But it's much less impressive really," he admits as he sits down himself and all the other dwarfs mull about, some of them copying Gural and finding a seat if their own, "I twisted my ankle is all, twisted it while I was jumping onto Rill to run away. It just swelled up a bit after you left is all."

I make a face but can't think of anything to say other than, "Well, alright, if you're sure."

"Quite certain," he smiles widely.

"You know, I was supposed to clean this place while you were out," I take a better look at the cottage and sure enough there is a heavy coating of dust in the corners, the kitchen is piled with more dishes than I can imagine using, and the spiders seemed to have taken over the entire under the stairs.

"Well, if you feel you must," Gural shrugs, "I'm sure these block heads would be quite happy to help you, but I'd rather you didn't call all of the animals in, to be honest, they make a bigger mess than they really fix, not to mention the squirrels like to bite. Last one that tried to bite me got a well deserved whack on the head and tossed out the door. Needless to say, I haven't been on the best of terms with the forest animals after that."

I chuckle at the thought of Gural kicking a squirrel out the door, and shoot a look at Lexi for trying to goad me into call them. She just give a shrug and a smile and it's my turn to roll my eyes.

We spend the next hour hunting out any sort of cleaning supplies before we can even start cleaning. I don't want to even think about how long the actual cleaning took. And by we, I of course mean Lexi, the puppet dwarfs, and I. I wouldn't let Gural help and he seemed more than pleased to sit on his chair and direct the other dwarfs in the proper method of dusting and sweeping. I started keeping track of time by my progress in the mountain of dirty dishes. About a third of the way through I had to chase off a couple of deer who tried to wander in when they couldn't figure out why they weren't helping too. Half way through Gural summoned up a violin from somewhere. He didn't quite get it back into tune until about four-sevenths of the way through when my hands pruned up. But once the sound coming from his part of the room actually started resembling music, the chores became remarkably more tolerable. I tried to make up lyrics to go along with his tune, and they were all so remarkably bad that you are never allowed to know what they were. And yes, I ang right along with him, but unlike with Giselle, it didn't matter how bad I was, or how stupid my lyrics, it was just fun.

Gural referred to all of the dwarfs as Dopey if he referred to any of them individually, but the ones that I now recognized as Pitifully-Dopey and Hopelessly-Dopey started jumping about in something resembling dancing. Unfailingly-Dopey took one of the pots I'd cleaned and managed to tap out a beat to go along with it.

The dishes took so long that the only thing left to don once I finished was to plan an invasion into the under-the-stairs. It was heavily spider-webbed and inhabited with all sorts of creepy crawlies. It was just my luck however that all of the dwarfs, and I even suspected Gural, were afraid of spiders. So it ended up just being me, braving my way into the dusty webby darkness, wielding my broom, once all the webs were cleared we sent several dwarfs in to scrub it clean. Painfully-Dopey had a bit of a scare with a stray spider, which good for a laugh.

We left Gural downstairs with his violin and Obnoxiously-Dopey, and we ventured upstairs to the second floor which served as the mass bedroom. There were beds to make, and Lexi would not have any just simple blanket folding, no, we had to strip the sheets off, put new ones on, then wash all of the old ones. Though, admittedly, they did need it.

Lexi left us when we started scrubbing the walls, floors, and windows. I never even noticed when the violin music stopped.

I finally stumble down the stairs and am hit with the most welcome, wonderfully mouth watering a wave of delicious food smells. Gural and Lexi manned the stove and Obnoxiously was setting out places at the table.

Dinner was warm, Gural was wonderful just to listen to his stories, the dwarfs were a constant source of amusement, and with only a little wheedling, pleading, and flattering Lexi magic-ed all the dishes clean .

Gural directed Unfailingly and Hopelessly in setting up a little bed sort of arrangement under the now clean stairs. I was exhausted, I'd been cleaning all day, but I fell asleep with such a happy glow in my mind. It was almost enough to forget about Donovan.


	57. Pancake Hearts

**Not a lot to say, just a warning. AP test are fast approaching and Prom is this weekend. Next week's update is a gamble.**

Pancake Hearts

Thump. "Ouch!"

I wake up so fast the entire staircase shuddered with the force of my head hitting it. In retrospect, putting my head closer to the short end of the stairs was a really bad idea. Dopey me.

I think back on my dream, it had been a really bad one. Glitches! Apples and ugly old witches. Some one was in trouble. Gural? Giselle? D-

I shudder, I'd prefer not to remember it.

I untangle myself from the sheets and get up, eager to do something. As soon as I am out from under the stairs I see Gural already up and making a breakfast of pancakes. Oh, sweet Grimm!

I run over and give Gural a hug. "Oh, Gural, you are amazing, have I told you that?"

"Several times over dinner last night, I believe," he says with a smile, "Now take over the pancakes while I go wake up the dwarfs." He catches my look of panic. "Pour a spoonful of this batter onto the pan, and count to fifteen, flip it and count to nine then put it on the plate," he instructs simply and clearly. I nod and take the spatula from him as he makes his way up stairs, his gait already noticeably improved from yesterday. The pan hisses as I start, being careful to follow his directions to the letter.

I hear several thumps and orders, then some moaning. The dwarfs are very reluctant to wake up apparently. By the time Gural leads them all back downstairs I am getting confident enough to try and shape the pancakes into little hearts like my dad does at home. A few of them get a little blackened from the effort, but they are definitely heart shaped. Gural leaves me to finish up the batter, and I grin as I finally present my work to the table. Gural leads the dwarfs in clapping and I bow before I take my tiny seat. Perhaps a little excessive for just pancakes, but hey, I made them. I made food, edible food!

We all settle pleasantly down to eat and in moments the only sounds are those of the utensils and happy mouths. I look down at my pancake. It was one of the heart ones, though rather poorly formed. I tilt my head, it looks rather more like an apple.

I frown and quickly cut it up into smaller pieces.

"Don't bother with the syrup," Gural advises me after trying it himself. "If you don't make something yourself in here you might as well be eating dirt."

"Did you happen to see Donovan while you were out in the woods?" I ask Gural, edging into the subject with my usual subtlety.

"No," he answers slowly.

I bite my lip. "I don't know what I'm going to do," I admit, finally, to him. "I mean, there aren't a whole lot of loop holes in Snow White. If Donovan doesn't show up... will I be stuck in this tale forever?" I shudder. Eternal sleep, that's even worse than being trapped in the curse forever. At least, if I failed like Adele, I could talk to people, I could think and plan and try to escape still, I couldn't just do nothing!

I don't say it, but I think Gural can tell. Then I regret saying it out loud. Now he's going to worry and think that Giselle was right, that I can't do it. That thought only makes it worse because Giselle _just_ put her faith in me and I'm going to let her down! Why did I spend all that time cleaning some stupid useless curse designed house yesterday? I should have been trying to think of solutions, figure a way out of the worst twists in the tales like I always do. But even if I had spent yesterday planning, would I have come up with anything? Panic rises in my throat and I can't seem to swallow my pancakes.

Gural looks steadily at me, not judging, just waiting, finally he speaks. "A lot of things are outside of our control. Most of the time, we don't have to deal with those things, if we did, we'd all go crazy. Fortunately, when we do come up against those things, we have friends. In the end, things always manage to work out for the better."

He doesn't doubt me. I don't know how he can be optimistic, how he can smile and keep eating his pancakes as if nothing were wrong, but it manages to calm me some. The panic curls idly back up in the background of my thoughts, done toying with me for now.

I pick at my pancakes.

As breakfast continues, Gural makes sure that everyone takes seconds, saying that "There's no such thing as prepared on an empty stomach." I manage to force it down.

When we are finished, we all get up to clean our plates. Suddenly, there is a crash. We all jump and turn towards the sound. Glitches?

Unfailingly-Dopey has a guilty look on his face and there is a smashed plate on the floor in front of him. I let out a breath and realize that I'd pulled out my knife from where I'd tucked it away in my apron. I put it back.

We all bring our dishes to the sink and I look for the soap to clean them all.

Crash!

This time it's the window and a single glitch comes flying in. The dwarfs scatter and the knife is back in my hand in moments. "Get it!" I shout.

The dwarfs jump into action now that they have a purpose, and though they are heroically determined, each and everyone of them is embarrassingly clumsy.

The glitch flits about, evading capture even in the small space of the mini cottage. I make a grab for it, but the cursed thing is all the way over on the other side of the room by the time my hands close. Painfully jumps for it and runs into Obnoxiously. Hopelessly tries to grab the glitch as it flies at his face, then falls back with a bloodied cheek. The other five dwarfs shout and run at the horrible little creature. I curse and wish I had the arm room I would have in a normal sized house, I am so useless in here!

Gural is the quickest, and before any of us even know quite what happened the has the glitch trapped under a huge soup pot. He sits on it as the glitch rages about inside of it and screeches a bit, but Gural's little cage holds.

"Get me something to put on top of it," he orders. I look around and then run outside to see if there is anything, because there is nothing inside.

The curse seems to be on our side for once because only a few feet from the door is a rock large enough that I have to call a few dwarfs over to help me bring it in. We push the pot over to a corner, place the rock on top, and slowly pull away from it to see if the improvised prison will work.

We all hold our breath as the glitch rattles about. The bottom of the pot mists a bit as the glitch tests the cracks and tries to sneak out. After an eternity or so, we let out a collective sigh as we decide that it's not going anywhere.

"Maybe with it trapped here, none of the others will know to come looking in this tale?" I say hopefully.

"We should close up all the shutters and lock the doors, all the same. The dwarfs and I will all stay here rather than leaving to mine, to keep you safe," Gural advises.

I don't argue because then I'll be able to do the same for them.

"Why don't you guys close up everything and I'll take care of Hopelessly-Dopey," I offer. Gural nods and we split up to do just that.

I pull Hopelessly aside. He doesn't even seem to notice that his cheek is bleeding. I don't know what to do besides just clean him up a bit, but it's only a few scratches. He doesn't say anything, but none of the puppet dwarfs have said anything up to this point, so I'm not worried.

Once finished, there's not much more to do than finish cleaning up after breakfast. It all seems rather surreal after the glitch attack to go back to something so dull, but it is even worse afterwards when there's not even cleaning to do. The dwarfs wander aimlessly through the house and Gural sits with his violin doing whatever sort of things you do to take care of it. I can't decide if I am grateful or upset for the time that the silence gives me to think. I sit next to the overturned pot, leaning against the wall, listening to the shuffling noises of the glitch, and playing absentmindedly with the knife.

Even with all the time I can't think of any clever, brilliant solutions, and the more I can't think of anything, the more I worry about the consequences. Then I worry about Donovan. I can't bring myself to be angry at him, even if he left me here, though, maybe he didn't, maybe he was attacked by glitches and they ate him! I doubt it. I can't see anything getting the better of Donovan.

A knock on the door starts me out of my thoughts.

I exchange glances with Gural who only shrugs and picks up a large wooden spoon, just in case. There is no way to see who is outside without opening the door. Curse this curse for not putting peep holes in the doors!

I grip the knife, ready for anything, and open the door.

"Hey, Elle." It's Adele, dressed in rags and probably delivering the poisoned apple, but Adele. I relax and open the door wider. "I take it you've had an unwanted visitor?" she asks, peering into the room behind me.

"Nothing Gural and I couldn't handle, and nothing since," I assure her. "Have you found Donovan yet?" It slips out.

"Oh Elle," she rushes up to hug me. I steel myself for the bad news.

"We're still looking, we only just cleared Albert's tower of glitches, but... no, we haven't found him yet."

I bite my lip. So I really am on my own.

I take a shaky breath and push Adele away. Freaking out does no one any good. "Alright, no problem, I'll just figure out a way out of this and we'll be fine." I can't seem to swallow around the lie.

"What are you going to do?" she asks.

Come on, Elle, think. Donovan is not even a factor, he's not a distraction any more. I force my mind to focus. I look up at Adele, waiting for my answer.

Donovan won't wake me up. Who needs him anyway? I am going to fall into eternal sleep forever. If I can't wake up, how different is sleep from death? If I eat that cursed apple I am never going to wake up! I'm going to die and it's all because I couldn't-

So don't eat it.

I smile up at Adele, the cold grip of panic gone from my mind, "I won't eat the apple," I say simply.

It takes her a moment to understand my plan but she smiles back at me. "If you can out wait the curse then it will just restart you-"

"Into one of the Snow Whites where the apple is only lodged in my throat," I interrupt in my excitement at figuring it out."Then anyone can just give me a good firm pat on the back and I'll be fine and the tale will be over!" No Donovan necessary.

"Okay, then I am less afraid to give this to you," Adele says relief written on every feature. She pulls out the apple from her robe and hands it to me. I don't know if you have ever seen a blood red apple glitter with a malicious intent, but it is a frightening thing. I throw it into the woods.

"Won't need it," I remind her.

"Right, of course," Adele shakes her head. She fixes another sympathetic look on me. "Is there anything else you need? Do you want me to stay with you?"

"Don't be silly," I wave her off, "I'm fine, I've got Gural and the puppet dwarfs... I'm fine." I smile.

She gives me a long look, then gives me another hug.

I... I don't need it. I'm fine. Really, I am, and I don't like to see her all worried over me.

"You should get back to Albert," I remind her. I think to ask about how they are doing, but I can't bring myself to.

"Be safe, Elle," she warns me. That maternal instinct of hers, I suppose.

"What? Me? Whenever am I not?" I force a smile.


	58. Plan B

**I wasn't going to do it. I was thinking, '_No, that would be too mean. How many people would I piss off if I did that? And it's so short._' Then I wrote it and thought, _'But I want to._' Besides, who am I kidding, I love frustrating people!**

Plan B

Gural has been trying to keep me positive with his unending optimism. It's almost getting on my nerves. Almost. If he wasn't so cheerful about it. I know he means well, but... we've been sitting around for what I am starting to suspect would be about a day in the normal world.

The curse still hasn't gotten the hint.

How can he remain hopeful when it is so painfully obvious that my plan was a failure? Why won't he just be as dissapointed in me as he should be? The curse is going to win, one way or another. It started with Painfully-Dopey when we realized that the curse wasn't going to give up without a fight. He took a nap. He hasn't woken up. Oh we tried to wake him, but there's a certain point where you have to admit defeat. After that, the rest of us started feeling a little more worn down, and sleep was just so enticing.

Now, it's just Hopelessly, Gural, and I still awake.

"Hopelessly-Dopey just fell asleep," Gural comes up to the rut I have practically worn with pacing. I have to stay awake.

"It's probably for the best," I sigh, "It was painful watching him beating his head against the wall to stay awake." Gural just nods.

My eyelids droop, and I return to my furious pacing.

"I don't know how much longer I can stay awake," Gural admits after a moment.

"I heard you almost fall down the stairs," I confess, "You should find somewhere comfortable before you just drop like Unfailingly."

We are silent again.

"You should unlock the front door, just to be safe," he advises, swaying on his feet.

I reign in my sharp response, even in a bad mood from exhasution, you just don't snap at Gural. "How is it safer to unlock the door when there are glitches out there?"

"Your prince will still need to get in."

That sends me over the edge. "He's not coming!" I shout, "He's given up on me! He's realized what a horrible person I am, and he would never want to see me ever again, even if he was still here!" I collapse on the ground, clutching my head. "Even his white knight complex isn't enough, because I told him- I told him that I don't want him- I don't need him to save me. And I don't need him, I just need someone-". Tears try to force their way out the corners of my eyes and though I blink away the tears, a sob escapes from my throat. It's just the exhastion talking. My vision blurs and my head hurts. If I was up to par, I wouldn't be on the verge of tears and I'd be able to come up with a plan B and I wouldn't be wishing that Donovan would just burst through that door and fix everything!

I hear a snore that starts me out of my panic. Gural couldn't stay awake, but even alseep he manages to help me. I drag him over to a couch and lay him down on it. "Thank you, Gural," I mutter, "I'm sorry I let you down."

I resume my pacing, rubbing my temples in an attempt to releive the pressure. My worn out mind is stuck in just as much a rut at the one I am pacing, unable to drag itself on to a new idea, and if I can't think of anything new then I will just keep beating at this idea until- until it decides to work!

I hear a knock outside. For a moment my heart leaps and I think that it might be- Then there is another bump from the roof and the shutters and an answering screech from the pot under the rock.

Curse it.

I walk in a different direction, in the insane hope that my brain will do the same and come up with a desperate answer. That's when I see the apple.

Sitting perfectly innocent in the center of the room. A shiver runs down my back as I look at it, and another sob threatens to burst from me. I lick my lips as I pick it up, expecting it to explode in my hands or be particularly heavy. It feels like any normal apple. It probably tastes normal too.

My legs shake and then give out from under me. I land heavily on the floor, just staring at the apple. Maybe- maybe it wouldn't be so bad, being asleep forever. I wouldn't have to take care of anyone any more or worry about anything. There wouldn't be anymore useless plans that go all wrong. I wouldn't feel so guilty that everyone put their faith in someone so incompetent.

The world fades away, and all I can focus on is the waxy glint of the apple. My heart pounds deafningly against my rib cage and I can't hear the glitches or the snores or anything. All of the pain, the confusion, the responsibility- gone. It would be so easy...

Nothing is easy.

I bite my lip and a gasp escapes as I look away at the door. I force my legs to lift me. I feel like I am wearing iron shoes as I drag myself towards the door. I push the bolt away, and just that effort makes me slip forward to lean against the door. I hear the glitches flying about outside.

I take a moment to gain my breath, then drag myself to the center of the room, in perfect veiw. I fall with a heavy thud. Another moment to let my last doubts pound through my head.

Well, here goes plan B.

I take a bite. It tastes like cardboard.

**How mean would it be if I just ended the whole story, right there? I mean, you could just suppose that it ended as a tragedy!**


	59. True Love's Kiss

**For all your patience.**

True Love's Kiss

When I fell into "eternal sleep", I hadn't counted on the dreams.

I dream I am back at the center of a hurricane of glitches. Even with the glitches flying at me, I dream I can still see Adele and Jaz, Albert, Gural, Arbol, Anthony, Donovan... Their faces in varying shades of terror. I can't help them. I can't move, can't scream, can't think! One by one they start to disappear into the dark swarm, and I still can't do a thing. I spot Giselle outside of the storm of glitches. I try to yell to her, to get her to free me, to help us! She looks guiltily away, and then she is gone too.

Then I am alone.

Even the glitches are gone. I am left in a sea of black mist, mist just like that surrounding the pomegranate tree, patient and silent and freezing cold. It's the kind of cold that pierces all the way through and numbs everything so quickly I don't even get a chance to shiver. The fog closes in on my consciousness-

The warmth starts in my face and spreads painfully slow. It trickles down my neck and sends my spine tingling. Next are my shoulders and it leaks to my arms. Down, down the warm sensation spreads and starts to fill my chest, centering at my heart-

My eyes fly open and a gasp jerks air into my lungs so fast I cough at the first lungful. I don't even need to see his face as I throw my arms around his neck. He came! Donovan came back! Relief floods me in an instant and I bury my face in his neck. I feel a fluttery warm glow that I don't know what to make of mixed with intense happiness and that's good enough for me. I'll worry about consequences and sorting out emotions later.

Donovan just pulls me closer, like he's never wanted to do anything more and never wants to stop. And- and- I don't want him to either. I trust him. I think I have for a while.

"I'm sorry- I'm so sorry, Elle-" He forces himself back, holding me at arm length, like it's killing him to break away.

My mind flails for a reason why he is sorry. Because- because he still thinks that I'm not in love with him! Wait- am I?

"I've- I wish I could- " he grits his teeth but his hands still linger, "There's no time. I'm sorry. I have to-" a glitch screams past us.

"There's more coming!" Gural shouts from the door and I hear a clang like that of a pan hitting something solid.

Oh, that's why.

"She's awake!" Donovan shouts back and casts me one more apologetic look then he is up, swinging his sword at another approaching glitch. The glitch hisses and swerves away, but is otherwise unharmed.

Thrice cursed glitches! Interrupting my- my-

"Wait, Donovan!" I try to stand but find that my legs aren't functioning properly. I fumble for my knife and hold it out to him instead. Neither of us even have time to think, he trades for the knife and swipes at another glitch. This time it swerves off screaming.

I look frantically around and see the dwarfs all wielding different cooking items and swinging them wildly at the glitches. Gural is at the door trying to close it and Donovan runs over to try and help.

With a great effort of will and using Donovan's sword to help, I pull myself off the ground and onto shaky legs. I duck one glitch, but as soon as I try to raise the sword I fall to one knee. My limbs all feel swollen and stiff like every muscle in my body has fallen asleep.

I shriek in frustration. Cursed, bloody glitches and sleep and legs! I have to help!

I steady myself and stumble towards the nearest glitch, swinging weakly. I feel my blood pounding and trying to wake my shaky limbs back up.

Donovan spots me from the door, "What are you doing?" he shouts, fighting off the glitches trying to squeeze through the closing door.

"Helping!"

"You are in no shape to fight! Just let me take care of it!" he calls.

I actually give the order a moment's consideration, which is a moment more that I should. "I'm fine!" I tell him and swing, sending the closest glitch flying. Just to make my point. I even managing to catch my balance before I fall on my face.

"Elle," Donovan growls before he gives the door a massive shove, slamming it shut. Gural jumps up and rams home the lock.

"We just need to last until the tale ends," Gural calls to the both of us, managing not to take a side.

"Is there something we've forgotten?" I ask, helping Painfully defend a corner, while subtly using the wall to lean on. My legs tingle painfully, but at least they are waking up.

"I don't know!" Donovan shouts, trying to move towards me, but held off by several glitches attacking above and Hopelessly running about underfoot.

"Just try something!" I call.

"I love you!"

"Same here!" I respond, ignoring the little flutter in my chest. It's not like it's real.

Nothing happens. No fading in black. "Something else," I suggest.

"Will you marry me?"

"Sure!" I duck a dwarf wielded broom.

"Stop fighting!"

"Not a chance!"

"You're in no shape to over exert yourself!" he gets tripped by a dwarf but dodges a glitch to the face.

"You're in no shape to judge," I shoot back. Before he can respond, I shout. "Lexi!"

I hear a reluctant poof behind me and then, "Ohhh, I don't want to be here!" I turn to see Lexi cowering in the corner.

"Lexi how do we make the curse end?" I ask in a rush.

A particularly eager glitch spots Lexi and dives in for it's newest victim. "Eek!" Lexi screams as I slap the glitch with the broad side of the sword. I fall unsteadily against the wall.

"Lexi!"

"He has to sweep you onto his horse and you ride off into the sunset!" she cries. "Can I go now?" she asks, hiding her head in behind her arms.

"Yeah, thank you, Lexi," she's gone before I even finish.

"But we just managed to shut the door," Donovan groans.

I growl in frustration and the force of my next swing at a glitch finally manages to knock me down.

"Elle!" Donovan runs through the chaos to try and help me up.

"What are you doing?" I demand, already struggling up on my own. "Focus on the glitches!" Gentlemanly, yes, but also a bad idea in the present circumstances. He ignores me and puts a hand on the small of my back to steady me. My pulse quickens, did that used to happen before?

A glitch flies at us, beady little eyes glinting, but gets speared on Donovan's- my knife and disappears in a burst of smoke.

"If you were going to fight, why did you give me the only effective weapon?" he demands.

"Because I thought it would be more effective with you!"

"Then trust me to take care of it!" he pushes me behind himself to protect me.

"I do!" I say honestly, "That doesn't mean I can't help!" I duck under his arm to again stand next to him.

"It does if you can barely stand!"

"That's temporary!" I can use most of my limbs.

"You're still leaning on me to keep your balance."

I push away from him, "This is hardly the time to argue about it!"

Donovan shuts his mouth on his retort and nods, "Stay near me at least."

"Agreed."

We get back to back and start up a steady rhythm of me disorienting the glitches with a good whack to the face and Donovan finishing them off. The dwarfs start herding the glitches towards us and in short order the fight is over.

I lean over to catch my breath and look around at the damage. Every last piece of furniture has been turned over, even the rug. The house is a mess, but we seem to have temporarily won.

Gural comes over with a tired but wide smile, "That was the last of them."

I don't know what possessed me but I suddenly decide to spin around and hug Donovan, "We did it!" I squeal, putting extra emphasis on the 'we'. I release him before he can react and turn back to Gural.

"We need to get outside to Donovan's horse," I inform him.

"If the glitches haven't scared it away," Donovan adds.

"We'll just have to hope for the best," I reply.

"Well in that case, I will see you again soon," Gural bows to the both of us with a knowing smile. I give him a hug too.

"Ready?" I turn to Donovan.

"I'd rather ask you that," Donovan looks at me pointedly.

I flex my fingers and toes, roll my shoulders and realize that despite the initial effects, eternal sleep is actually quite refreshing.

"Ready," I say with certainty.


	60. True Love's Lies

**Sorry for the delay. APs went well and now I have more time than I know what to do with! Let the grad parties begin!**

True Love Lies

"Come on, hurry, they're gone for now," Donovan opens the door wider for me to follow.

I look around to see for myself before I follow him out towards the woods, it seems odd that they would suddenly all up and leave... I hope everyone else is all right.

"You're worried?" Donovan asks as I catch up.

"Only within reason."

"Well, this is where I left the horse," he motions to a tree with one of it's limbs broken off.

"Lovely," I groan, "Now we have to go traipsing about the forest looking for it!"

"I'm sure the curse will help us," he shrugs, searching the ground for hoof prints.

"I never know what the curse can be counted on for or not," I shake my head, following him as he supposedly tracks the horse, as far as I know he's just guessing a direction.

He holds a branch up to let me pass. "And where were you earlier?" I demand suddenly of him. "No one could find you and... and I thought... well, it was stressful is what it was."

"I didn't mean to," he shrugs, "I was visiting the real world, doing research because a certain red-headed 'princess' doesn't keep me very well informed," he looks at me pointedly, "I've had Anthony leave me out books for the in-between times that might be useful. No one has complained before."

"Did you find out anything useful?" I ask quickly.

"Well... maybe," he says carefully, "It's based on some guess work, but I think the spell was created, something like, 322 years ago."

"As a rough estimate," I tease sarcastically.

"Well, based on just the information on the spell and the witch, I'd say give or take fifty years," a grin forms at the corner of his mouth, "but royal wedding records from around that time are much more accurate."

I try to suppress my own smile, "Oh, and what did you find?"

"There was a certain King Leopald who's ten daughters, ten, were all married within the same year, all to very powerful and strategic matches, all claiming to be based on 'True Love'."

I gasp and almost trip over a root, "I'll be cursed... well, more cursed if that's a coincidence."

"Exactly what I thought," he agrees.

"So the king hires this witch to make him a curse to help him marry off his daughters," I say, working it all out outloud. "All it has to do is be Fairy Tale-like enough that the marriages can't come into question because of True Love. No kingdom is going to go against the Fairy Godmothers' Union and refuse their prince to marry his True Love, no matter who the girl is!"

"Suddenly the king gets to hand pick any alliance to any country, noble, or man he wants," Donovan adds.

"It's all a sham!" I declare furiously. "Why that thrice cursed troll of a king! Manufacturing fairy tales like that!"

"Remarkably clever though," Donovan admits.

"Well, that goes without saying, but to use his daughters like that!" I wave may arms, trying to express my annoyance. Especially since a rather unpleasant thought has started niggling it's way towards the front of my mind. If the whole point of this curse is just for relationships of convenience...

And that still doesn't solve any of my questions about Albert! Other than perhaps that he was one of the poor princes roped into this mockery of True Love.

"Don't tell any of the other creatures," I warn Donovan,thinking of Gural and Giselle, "I'm not sure how they would take it."

"Alright," Donovan nods. "So, what, do I get a thank you or a punch for going behind your back and researching on my own."

"A little bit of both," I punch him lightly then hook arms with him as we walk through the darkening woods. I instantly become over aware of his proximity and his strong warmth. Maybe that was a bad decision? But Donovan seems quite pleased to continue as such, and adjusts his arm so I have to move even closer to stay comfortable.

I am not given a lot of time to decide whether this is a good thing or not, as the horse suddenly chooses now to come galloping out of the foliage. The both of us jump back and apart in alarm. We both remember that this is the animal we are actually looking for, then quickly change direction and run towards it.

"Grab it!" the both of us yell, apparently to no one in particular.

We tumble over ourselves trying to get to the horse, which scares the poor thing and-

"What are you two clowns doing?" Okay. Not scared, annoyed.

"Falada!" I start.

"Actually, it's not Falada in this tale it- oh never mind," the kelpie rolls his eyes.

"You didn't say the horse was Falada!" I swing on Donovan, "Why would you leave him out here!"

"Yes, I would appreciate an answer to that one," Falada says dryly.

"I didn't notice, it was him. One, he was looks rather different with the added shoulders. Two, I was a little more concerned with helping you than holding a conversation with my horse," Donovan shrugs defensively.

I pause, "I am no excuse to ignore other people- err- creatures who need help, if I had known I'd have made you bring him in!"

"Well, look who has their own white knight streak," Donovan prods.

"I think that only applies to saving damsels in distress, I just help people in general," I retort stubbornly.

"But that would make you my damsel in distress in this situation," Donovan teases.

Instead of getting annoyed I laugh and even surprise myself a little when I say, "Only for you, but I don't plan on making a habit of it."

"I'd be disappointed otherwise, makes it more of a challenge," he grins, locking eyes with me. I meet his look unblinkingly. My stomach turns flips with my heart. I bite the inside of my cheek nervously, because I've stopped trying to deny that I might sort of be falling- have fallen for him... rather hard, and now I have strayed into unfamiliar emotions.

"If I am about to be ignored again I am going to go and you two can flirt on your own," Falada complains.

I turn bright red, but Donovan just grins. "A hand up, my lady?" he offers, motioning to Falada's saddle.

I look to Falada first, "You don't mind us riding?"

"I don't have much of a choice," he consents obligingly.

I shoot Donovan a look, and ignore his hand up, wishing that I was perhaps a bit more graceful. I had rather expected Donovan to lead Falada, but no sooner am I settled in, he leaps up behind me. Falada lets out a grunt, but no other protest, and I can't bring myself to shoo him off. He reaches around me for the reigns, but I snatch them up before he can. "Nonsense," I tease, "I won't make it so easy."

Donovan wraps his arms around my waist instead, "You know, I think I like this better anyway." I squirm a little, but find I am remarkably comfortable, even with the butterfly acrobatics going on in my abdomen.

"Oh goodness," Falada groans, and jerks forward.

The fading darkness steals away Donovan's squeeze goodbye, and I can't remember ever being quite so disappointed at a tale ending. I glance around and summon the glitch knife to hand, clutching the now familiar hilt for comfort. The darkness seems to be relatively glitch free for the moment. Probably all scared off by Donovan and I!

I smile a little, does this mean that I... well, I'm not refusing him anymore. What had been my reasons, again? I shake my head, I'm sure it can only be good for me, a constant reminder that I am not the only person who can figure out what to do. Same goes for him. My grin widens, he's probably off finding out more about the curse at this very moment.

Oh right, that's what I should be doing instead of standing here swooning. Well, not swooning. I don't swoon. I'll just leave these thoughts for now and see what happens in the next tale.

I turn my mind to the newest information about the curse. Who should I find to pump for information? Well, I've already tried Arbol and he was not very useful. Next? My mind instantly points to Giselle. There is so much mystery around her, I think it is about time we cleared some of it up. But first to get somewhere a little more comfortable.

"Hellooo!" I call, "Albert, Adele! Someone care to pick me up?"

"Elle? Oh there you are!" I hear Albert's voice from above. "Just a minute-" I hear shuffling and then I am flung, or perhaps it is more of a throwing sensation, into Albert's tower. Or what I suppose was Albert's tower, the giant orb is there, and Albert is standing in front of it just as happy as you like, but the tower itself seems to have stretched and grown a few extra rooms through which the curse creatures seem to be wandering about.

"I like what you've done with the place," I say, looking around.

"Oh, yes, I had to shift some things about to fit all the creatures in, what with the glitch problem and all, though they are doing a very good job of breaking down the curse, they are getting particularly aggressive, When the time comes to escape, I think the curse will be more than weak enough for us all to sneak out," Albert chatters.

"Thank you for taking care of everyone," I smile to him.

"What? Oh, of course, why wouldn't I?" he waves me off. Adele leaves off whatever she was working on to come stand with us.

"He's been marvelous," Adele assures me and him, giving him a quick hug. I grin.

"Have you guys seen Giselle? I heard she's been helping too?" I ask.

"Oh yes!" Adele peers around Albert looking for the right direction to point me. "She's been taking care of us all, keeping us safe from the glitches, she's right out on the balcony, there," she points to a door that looks hardly different from any other door.

"Thanks guys," I smile and walk towards the specified door. Out of habit I knock before I come out, and peek through to make sure the coast is clear before I come all the way out.

"Giselle?" I look out to the narrow wire balcony. It's a wrought iron contraption that looks to be built more for looks than use, but it seems to be holding Giselle fine.

"Why are you here?" she asks in her abrupt way.

"Just checking on you," I shrug. Not a complete lie. I step out onto the balcony to join her.

"Well, I suppose you won't be too much of a bother at the moment, there seems to have been a lull for a while," she shrugs.

I lean on the rail with her. "So, I didn't realize you were particularly adept at scaring off glitches," I hint.

"Well, better than you at any rate," she looks off into the misty black distance. I let that one slide.

I bite my lip, wishing I'd come up with more of a plan for how to bring up my questions. "I found out some new information about the curse that I think will help some."

"Help us get out?" she asks with a frustrating lack of concern.

"Well, no, but it answers some of the questions about the curse."

"Then why is it useful?" is that a hint of defensiveness I catch?

"Well, understanding is always useful," I shrug, "Would you like to hear it?"

"You're going to tell me anyway."

"The curse, it was commissioned by the king to force other rulers and powerful people to marry off their sons to his daughters."

I had been expecting more of a reaction from her. Surprise perhaps?

"Yes, royalty has always been a pack of moral-less dogs," is her only reply.

"So you already knew?"

She shifts uncomfortably, "I didn't have to know the specifics to not be surprised," she says carefully.

"What about the witch's daughter?" I ask suddenly.

"What about her? I imagine she wasn't too pleased with the curse her mother was making, romantic that she was."

"Did you know either of them? The witch or the daughter?" I push.

"What is this? An interrogation?" she turns to me finally. I sense that I perhaps went about this wrong.

"No, I just am starting to wonder if I am ever going to figure out what is going on here!"

"It's not important to getting everyone out, what's past is past, why should you waste precious time on it?" she returns her gaze to the distance.

"Why doesn't anyone seem to want to tell me?" I groan.

"Why do you keep insisting then?" she snaps.

"What is everyone hiding?" I demand.

"What do you want me to tell you?" she asks calmly, "Are you looking for me to tell you that you are wrong? To say, 'yes, the curse was created for nefarious reasons, but it still finds your true love,' so that you can feel better about falling for that boy of yours?"

I sputter, trying to bring myself to deny it.

"You're starting to fade, dear," Giselle adds.

"No! You don't get off so easily!" I shout as sure enough the world is fading fast.

"Good luck in your next tale," Giselle waves absent mindedly, "and your prince is a fine boy, so what if he's not your true love?"

**So, I was buzzing through the Fairy Tales section, looking for something to read and I was in a mood for a really long good story, so I skim through looking for the most reviews, anyway, the point is, that I found out I now officially have the most reviewed story in the entire Fairy Tales section! Wow! I don't even know how to thank all you guys, this is just mind blowingly awesome, thank you all for sticking around so long. The end is approaching and I am excited!**


	61. Fatherly Instincts

**I have no excuse for my lateness. I do have a funny story about my weekend! But that is neither here nor there.**

Fatherly Instincts

For the second time I have the misfortune to appear, seated on a horse. It is a very strange sensation to go from standing stationary to seated and moving, but it is a short time before I regain my bearings.

There is a stout little man, leading my horse, though I cannot get a good view of him as it is dark and he is cloaked. He is leading me down a wooded trail, with bald branches reaching like malicious fingers across the moon. How's that for scary imagery.

"Excuse me," I ask the man in front of me, "Where are you taking me?"

"It's just up ahead, dear," he turns just enough for me to catch a sad expression on an old face.

"Ah, yes, but that doesn't really answer my question," I remind him tartly. Giselle put me in a bad mood.

He doesn't answer. I frown and take a breath to ask him louder.

"He means the beast's castle," I hear from above me.

I turn, startled, to see... oh, what was his name? Lexi's twin... Dray!

"Where's Lexi?" I ask before what he's said even sinks in.

"She's too afraid of the glitches," he says with an air of disapproval, "So she is helping Albert and I am with you."

He doesn't exactly sound pleased. I'm not sure how much I like this arrangement either. I could get along with Lexi pretty well by this point, we had come to an understanding of sorts. "Not that he needs that much help any more," Dray says rather bitterly, "Now that that girl you sent him after is around all the time." Oh, and that counts as a strike against me as well I suppose.

"Well, he's newly in love," I try to explain, "That time period does have the rather unfortunate side effect of having less time for friends."

Dray just glares at me.

Well, fine, I'll just be quiet then. At least I know I am headed to a beast's castle, which most certainly means I am in beauty and the beast. Fortunately, the curse doesn't see any need to keep me waiting and the trees fall away and open up to a moon lit view of an enormous castle silhouetted against the sky.

The man, who I can only now suppose is my father, leads the horse and I through the gate to the front door. Mean looking knockers glare at us from their wooden frame and gargoyles peer down at us from above.

My supposed father comes over to help me down. I have to forcefully remind myself that in the story, I was the one who insisted on coming, he is not necessarily a terrible father.

"You still don't have to do this daughter, just leave now and return to your sisters. I would rather the beast killed me than you go in my place," the puppet father pleads and gives me a great big hug. I instantly regret thinking that he was a terrible father and even give him a little hug back.

"No, no, I'll be fine I'm sure," I try to assure him but he just looks up at me with big sad eyes.

He finally nods and releases me, and leads me woefully into the castle. We head straight to a large dining hall with a table all set with food and a fire roaring on the far side. A huge silhouette unfolds from the farthest chair, blocking out the dancing flames.

"Elle!" Donovan moves into the light, he tries to smile but his usual grin doesn't quite fit around his new tusks.

"M'lord, this is my daughter for whom I took the rose," the puppet father beside me trembles. I am trembling as well, but it is mostly because I am having some trouble to keep from laughing at Donovan who stumbles over his tail and claws as he tries to come towards us.

"Ahem, yes, you may leave," Donovan tries to regain his authority.

"Donovan!" I scold and grab the man before he can bolt out the door. "You can't send him back outside, it is only a short matter of time before the glitches are going to show up, I'm sure, and you want to send him out there alone?"

"Com e on, I could understand yelling at me for leaving the kelpie and if he was anything other than a puppet I would agree with you, but he probably just disappears as soon as he is not needed!" Donovan rolls his eyes.

"Oh look at him," I pout, pulling the poor old puppet man into the light. He looks the very picture of a deer caught in the head lights. A very confused deer in the headlights. My supposed father looks from me to Donovan then back at me, trying to figure out why the terrifying beast is taking orders from little old me.

"Please m'lord, you may eat me, but do not harm my dear Beauty," he trembles.

Both Donovan and I laugh. "He won't eat either of us, but the... um... the dark creatures will if you go back out there," I say gently. What can I say, I have a soft spot for fathers, I suppose.

"Elle, I really don't think we need-" he breaks off as I glare at him, "Fine, he stays. He can... watch the door or something."

"Good, you hear that?" I turn to my father puppet. "Why don't you go make sure that the doors are locked up tight?" He dashes off to do as I suggested.

"I still feel like it's a bad idea," Donovan grumbles. It is a marvelously funny thing to see a great big furry monster sulk.

"You think that about most of my ideas, but you go along with them any way and they seem to work out on the whole," I grin.

"Yes, well," he shrugs and moves to take a seat.

"What, no witty come back?" I tease, after all, I hardly expected to get away without some sort of comment from him. "Am I going to have to start making ugly jokes?"

"If you must."

I frown and sit down next him. "What's wrong?"

"I can't think right," he complains. "It's like all of my thoughts got side tracked and I can't think of anything. My mind has never been so blank!" I could have made a comment, but I sense that he is truly distressed. I put a hand on his furry shoulder.

"It's part of your role as the beast," Dray chooses this moment to speak up again. "The fairy takes away both your looks and your wit so that the girl must fall in love with only your virtues."

Oh right, that was the part I always hated about the original. The uglyness, I could understand it being a noble part to overcome. Learn to love the personality even with the all the looks of a wild boar. Charm and wit, however, that's taking away even the personality. The poor Beauty character is expected to fall in love with someone who will be a completely different character once the curse is broken! I am sorry, but virtue alone is almost as lame a basis for a relation ship as this curse! If he can't make me laugh then he might as well... Sorry, I'll climb off my soap box now.

Fortunately for me, I already knew Donovan.

"How am I supposed to be useful if I have all the mental capacity of a enchanted tree stump?" Donovan bemoans.

"Well, I'd think the claws would come in rather handy," I try to assure him, "Not to mention you are about twice your normal size. Not that that's saying much."

"Hey," Donovan complains, "That was a low blow, especially when I can't think of an appropriate response."

"I know, I'll really have to take advantage of this rare opportunity," I grin and give him a hug to show I am teasing. "Though I must say, I am rather liking your new fluffiness."

He gives me a disbelieving look. "I mean it!" I giggle, "Even if your face looks like you got beat up by a troll."

For my laughter I get a huge paw in my face. "Hey, watch the claws!" I complain, and try to push away his heavy hand. Donovan moves his paw to the side of my face instead.

"I am really starting to hate these transformation tales," he says quietly. I bite the inside of my cheek because I am secretly glad for them. I've got only one and a half tales to go and if for some silly reason I decide to kiss him before that, then everything was a waste! I look into his eyes, the only familiar part of his face, if he didn't look like a pit bull with horns...

"Get away from my daughter monster!" the father puppet comes out of nowhere and whacks Donovan across the head with a serving platter. "Filthy beast, I will kill you before I allow you to eat her!"Donovan tries to fend off the silver platter wielding puppet, who, with no previous instructions to follow, is falling back on basic fatherly instinct to eliminate all potential boyfriends.

"I'm not going to- Ouch! Hey!" Donovan gives me a look that says exactly what he thinks of my idea to keep the puppet father around, but he hold himself back and rather than biting anyone's head off, which he looks about ready to do, he picks up the puppet by the shirt and holds him at arms length.

"Look, you can settle down, or I can put you in the dungeon," Donovan offers reasonably. The father just tries to wiggle out of the hold and waves his fists.

"How about you just lock him in a nice guest room?" I offer, "he does mean well."

"Alright, alright," Donovan relents. "I'll take him upstairs to a room, but first, we might as well finish the night off properly. Beauty, will you marry me?"

"No, sorry," I shrug.

"Right then, old man," Donovan marches out the door and towards the stairs. I catch him say as he walks away, "You and I are going to have a nice chat about interrupting private conversations with serving utensils."

I shake my head and wander off to find my own room.

**Oh and, CLASS OF 2010 ALL THE WAY!**


	62. Fatherly Instincts II

**Happy Fathers Day all! **

Fatherly Instincts II

I don't seem to have a very good track record as far as waking up gracefully goes. Most of the time, I end up tumbling off the bed for some reason or another. Needless to say, I think this is the first time I have woken up because my arm is being wrenched out of its socket.

"Hurry, daughter," my puppet father is pulling on my arm, he looks wildly about as if expecting the walls to fall on him or for monsters to fall from the ceiling. "The beast is asleep and you must escape before he awakes."

I am pulled from the bed and the resulting bump on my head doesn't help my sleepy mind find any grasp on the situation.

"Wha-?" is about all I manage before I am being shoved out the door.

"That filthy beast thinks he can break his word and keep the both of us here?" my puppet father mutters under his breath as he hurries me down a set of unfamiliar stairs. "We won't stay another minute in here, we are going to escape, I spent the whole night looking for you-"

"But, you were locked in a room, Don- the beast made sure of it," I say groggily.

"That foolish beast, as if he could keep me locked up, I escaped out the window by tying together the curtains. Of course, I landed in the moat and had to swim out, who knew the beast would keep crocodiles? Then I had to climb in another window and run from the dogs-"

Of course none of this explanation is making anything clearer to me.

Where is Donovan, maybe he'll know-

I catch sight of myself in a window as we hurry past and realize quite what a ridiculous sight we make. A mud covered and muttering old man pushing me along with my hair in a mess and still in my nightgown.

My brain finally catches up and I can't help but laugh. Then I remember that I should actually stop the poor confused puppet from bringing us outside when all of the glitches are probably converging on this very tale as we speak. I dig in my heels bringing us to an abrupt halt. "We are not going anywhere," I try to tell him as nicely as I can.

"No, no! We have to leave now, we might not get another chance!" he insists frantically, jerking me another few steps like a frantic dog on a leash.

"Just settle down, will you?" I pull my arm out of his grip, "Lets both just go back to our rooms and get some sleep? Look, the sun is hardly even up."

He looks at me blankly for a moment and I am reminded yet again that he is just a puppet trying to figure out what to do. Finally his face reanimates as if he has managed to come to some sort of conclusion. "I see the creature has cast some sort of spell on you," he says finally, "We must get you out now before it becomes irreversible!"

Suddenly, and with a strength I hadn't at all expected, he hefts me over one shoulder and breaks into a run before I can so much as protest.

"Donovan! Dray! Albert!" I shout, hoping for a little back up. Well meaning father or not, I kick and beat, trying to get him to let go.

This is the wrong sort of kidnapping for Beauty and the Beast!

"What have you messed up now?" I hear from above me.

"Dray!" I exclaim, glad for the help. "Make him stop! He's like malfunctioning or something!"

"What am I supposed to do? Tackle him?" Dray asks sarcastically, struggling to keep up with the puppet who breaks into a run as soon as he get out into the dewy morning air.

"Where is Albert, shouldn't he be able to handle things like this?"

"He doesn't have as much time for friends," Dray throws my words back at me.

"This is important, I think he can pay attention!" I shout, "Go get him and make him make this crazy puppet bring me back!"

"Alright, alright," Dray poofs off and leaves me being ingloriously bounced along behind this crazy puppet as he bounds into the forest and out of view of the castle.

"Put me down, I can walk quite well enough on my own thank you!" I shout.

"No time for walking, we must get out of here as quickly as possible," and to be honest, we are making incredible time. I mean, it's not like I'm all that light, and he's rather old. I can only suppose none of the usual rules of physics matter to a puppet, or an incensed father for that matter.

I try using a different tactic, "This is dangerous! We shouldn't be out here all alone like this! There are glitches running about!"

"Better than that beast I am sure, he was not natural!" the puppet responds, not even out of breath. Yeah, nothing in this entire curse is natural.

I see a black streak in the gray sky above us. Glitches. I really hate this curse.

All of a sudden, and with the worst timing imaginable the puppet stops dead, giving me a rough jerk. After a few moments, the puppet very carefully drops me painfully on my butt and steps back. "Sorry Elle," I hear Albert's voice from the father puppet, "he started acting up while everyone was asleep."

"Can you get him to bring me back?" I ask, eager to get back to the castle quickly where I am less exposed.

"I don't think so," Albert responds through the puppet mouth piece. "I think the glitches have gotten to him, I can't get him to go any where near the castle, I'm going to have to completely reset him."

"Just get him out of here," I groan, right on cue he fades right out of sight. This is where my kind actions get me. I try to keep a pleasant little puppet safe, and I end up lost in a forest with glitches about, because you see, the puppet couldn't just take a path like a normal person, no, I am in a featureless forest with no idea which direction I even came from because I was bouncing along on his back!

I sigh and look up at the branches, worried that I will see another glitch. For the moment there is only the gray sky. A chill breeze rustles the bare branches above my head and kindly reminds me that I am wearing nothing but a thin night gown and it is rather cold outside.

"Alright curse, I'm counting on you to get me back quickly," I mutter to the air, and with that I break into a jog in the clearest looking direction.

I run for something like five minutes and I am actually starting to warm up. The crisp air feels good now, though I really wish that I had some shoes, or some real clothes.

What was that?

I swear I saw a black streak. I glance around and pick up my speed. It was just the trees, or a shadow or something, I tell myself. For comfort's sake, I summon up the glitch knife. My scar gives a familiar twinge, but then the dark blade is in my hand, glinting dangerously.

Another black flash, but nothing comes at me yet.

Now, I am not particularly adept at navigating magical forests, but I have this bad feeling that I am going in circles, on a whim, I carve a nick in the nearest tree and then continue running. I make another mark several meters later.

Another space of time passes, I am still running and losing steam. My feet hurt and my lungs are not happy about the cold air, but the black flashes are becoming more frequent and I don't dare stop.

That is when I spot one of my marks. I stop. I knew it! Curse it, I don't know who to blame, the curse or the glitches, probably the glitches, but I am very angry right now! I choose a new direction, away from the marks but it is no use as I practically run into another tree with my recognizable slash across it.

I hate this curse! I hate these glitches! I hate everything!

How am I supposed to get out of this glitch? I could be left wandering forever! I think a moment, maybe, if I could just see where I need to go, and keep it in sight? I'll jump across trees! I look around for a good climbable tree. Of course, I find nothing.

I groan and move on to a new idea. I start shivering again. Shouldn't it be getting brighter and warmer, it is morning. I look up at the darkening clouds above. Guess not.

Well, my only other idea is to just beat the glitches to get out of their twisted little game.

"Hey!" I shout, "Come and get me!"

I hear a familiar sound of scraping breaking glass, but this time it sounds distinctly more gleeful. Like the glitches are laughing at me.

Curses, that can't bode well.


	63. In Which There is Mayhem

**It's a smidge short, but I had to get it out today. I've really wanted to post something before I go off vacationing for two weeks. I am not sure how much internet I will have, or how much time/will to write, since I will be doing a lot of sightseeing and such. Anyway, maybe I'll try and get another chapter off before I leave on Saturday. My friend and I had this great story session so I am feeling all inspired and such. I want to get this done so bad! I have such wonderful new ideas to get to!**

**Oh, and it's late at night and I have camp early tomorrow so my proofreading is weak. Just a warning.**

In Which There is Mayhem

I wait, clutching my knife, ready for anything.

Nothing comes.

I turn slowly around, looking carefully in every tree, my eyes drawn to every shake and movement. I keep waiting for them to burst out of the sky and rain down in an evil, face-eating glitch storm! As soon as I lose focus, it will happen I just know it.

Finally, when I can't stand the nervous waiting another moment, I shout, "What game are you playing now? Come and get me!"

The wind blows tamely through the branches.

"Well fine!" I mutter and drop my guard. Of course, now they will come.

But still, nothing happens. I nearly tear out what's left of my hair. What kind of fairy tale is this! You can't just build up all that tension just for nothing to happen! It's all wrong, and I should know!

Oh come on, just one battle? Maybe a little skirmish? But the glitches seem intent on breaking every rule of epic battle scenes. I mean, we are getting right up near the end, how can there not be some sort of resolving battle?

"Well, fine then!" I pout and throw the knife into the ground in frustration.

I sigh and walk over to retrieve the knife. So, what? I just go back to wandering about? There doesn't seem much else to do, so I end up doing just that. I just don't have to be happy about it. I mean, sure fighting glitches is a bit dangerous, but I've gotten, if not comfortable, at least a little more confident about it, and as soon as I beat then I could move on anyway! I grumble, thinking of all the ways I would have set up that fight if this story was set up at all properly and- Oh wait. The glitches aren't part of a story.

I've let the fairy tales and the success with previous glitches go to my head, and now I keep thinking I can apply story logic to real life! I mean, it would be a completely different matter if there was any True Love involved, True Love just has a sort of story logic about it that seeps into everything. I think back to Giselle's words, "Too bad he's not your True Love."

I clench my fists.

Who says I was expecting him to be anyway? I mean, I couldn't stand him for half of this entire curse, and just because this entire adventure has been a muddled, cliché ridden, mess that sounds like it was written by some love sick teenager does not mean anything! If I was living in a story, then those glitches would have attacked and Donovan would have swooped in out of nowhere and saved the day! I could slap myself for the tiny flutter in my stomach that wishes that would have happened.

I wander. Forever. The sky refuses to brighten and the air refuses to warm up. I can't feel my feet anymore, I am cold, I am sick of walking but getting nowhere, I am tired since I wasn't allowed a good night of sleep, and I am going to kill someone.

I lean against a tree, just to take some of the weight off my feet. I close my eyes, just for a moment, and sink to the ground. Maybe... maybe I will sleep, not much else I can think of to do, besides I'm so tired.

I dream I've gotten back to the castle and the glitches are attacking it. They swarm in and out of doors, break windows, shrieking and screaming and being generally horrible. I run around the castle hoping I will find that Donovan has gotten out alright. I have this terrible certainty that he hasn't.

So I run into the chaos.

The glitches don't seem to notice me. Actually, I am certain they stop and glare right at me when they swoop by, but they don't do anything about it, they just go back to their gleeful mayhem and destruction.

I swear, I fly though the castle and end only when I find Donovan at the bottom of a large staircase, using a combination of furniture and his claws to fight off the glitches. There are so many though! They all seem to fly at him at once and I don't know how he could manage all on his own!

Donovan!

I bolt up and the echo through the trees lets me know that I actually shouted that. I run through the fairy tale in my mind. Well, I suppose that was my dream, a bit premature I would figure but, hey, I'll take it. I jump up. I've got to get to the castle!

I start off sprinting and only slow down when I remember that there was a reason I was here in the forest and not back at the castle already. I am still lost.

"Come on, curse," I address the forest, "You've got to help me out! I am sure you are very busy with glitches everywhere else, but it is REALLY important that I get to Donovan right now!"

Is it possible to die in here? I mean, I don't think the curse would let you, but the glitches aren't the curse, they are that real life thing I keep forgetting about. I think they could actually kill you if given the opportunity! And even if they can't then I bet your mind ends up dead even if the rest of you isn't which is just as bad! Donovan is all alone surrounded by glitches and I've got the only real weapon!

I run off again, too fearful to stay still any longer. "Please curse, I have to get there." I plead. "Please!"

The trees groan and I swear the earth buckles under my feet, but I am barely touching the ground anyway. The landscape flashes by like a bad patchwork, and I nearly run into several trees that pop out of nowhere. Finally, there is the castle up ahead.

"Thank you I mutter to the curse," and slow down as I approach the castle. There are a bunch of glitches wandering about, smashing through any windows that aren't already broken. I shy away from the main entrance and jog around the side of the building, trying to be as sneaky as possible. There, just above, a broken window that seems to have enough glass broken out of it that I could fit through, I'd just have to climb up the ivy and-

I dive into the bushes as a glitch bursts out of a higher up window, raining glass down on where I had just been, I worry that it might have seen me, as I would really rather like to keep the element of surprise on my side. The glitch wizzes about then smashes back in through a plaster wall this time.

I sneak back out and climb the ivy as fast as I can. I tumble in the window and roll straight into an over turned wardrobe. The hall way is a mess. The castle is a mess! The wallpaper is stripped off, pictures have had their faces punched out, every crystal, glass or porcelain object has been shattered on the floor, even the carpet has been pulled up in some areas! The glitches have gone mad in their gleeful mayhem.

I shiver as the thought dawns on me, the really scary thing is that they have nothing to gain or lose. The glitches aren't evil out of greed or jealousy like all the villains in these fairy tales, they just revel in destroying things. They can't be bargained with or threatened and I haven't been very successful with getting rid of them, they can only be survived.

I sprint off to find Donovan.

I run through unfamiliar hallways and rooms, I see doors open into rooms that have been torn down. I duck into a few as glitches fly past. I've got no idea where to go, but I figure that I am going the right way if the concentration of glitches keeps increasing. I get the feeling that I won't be able to keep up my sneaky advantage much longer.

I run down the hallway, down a stair case. I hear a pair of glitches tumbling up from the bottom and nearly duck into a room before I jerk back and realize that the room is gone! Not just gone like the door opens up into thin air, gone like it has been erased from the curse. I see the star speckled darkness of the in-between. The tale is falling apart! Well, I am not going to stick around here any longer!

I sprint down the stairs blowing past the glitches so quickly they are left spinning on the staircase, hardly aware of what hit them. It takes them a moment to regain their bearings but by then I am sprinting off through a new hallway. They let up a shriek and my element of surprise is lost, but that's fine, because there are so many glitches I don't think it would have mattered anyway. I flash my knife and the glitches shy away, buying me just enough time to get past. I spot a wall that looks like it has warped, from a certain angle it looks like the wall has completely gone and the ceiling just squishes down to the floor!

Oh, Donovan! I'm coming! The glitches are coming after me now, pushing my from behind, tripping up my legs, staying just out of reach of my blade. I ignore them and run through the-

Dead end!

With a wave of glitches pushing me forward I can't stop and go tumbling right into the plaster wall, and break right through it like a wave.

The following cloud of dust is enormous and coats the world in a powder gray. I cough and try to crawl away from the mess of disoriented glitches and plaster chunks. I look up at the hole I left and realize I came right through some sort of huge picture frame. The painting swings dangerously but I manage to catch the image of the now mangled rider on a white horse.

Even at a time like this I can't fight the momentary laugh at the irony of me bursting in to save Donovan, through a white horse.

I peer around behind me at the huge vaulted room. The familiar storm of glitches jerks me back to my task. The room looks familiar, reluctantly I look at the center of the floor beneath the swarm.

I groan. Of course he is right there.


	64. So Much for a Plan

**Yay! I'm back and updating on time, much to my amazement as I wrote it all today, hopefully there aren't too many mistakes. Germany was awesome btw! Goodness, I hadn't quite realized how very close we are to the end!**

So Much for a Plan

I have to stop myself from running over to him, lying unconscious on the ground. He's only unconscious, I assure myself. I'm sure the curse would have shut down if anything worse had happened to him.

The tale is falling apart, maybe that's why, a terrible corner of my mind whispers.

No! It's because the curse had to help me rather than fight the glitches. That is why the tale is falling apart, the rest of the curse is intact! I tell myself forcefully, all I need is a plan to get to him.

A crash tears my eyes away from Donovan and I look up at the hole I fell through. That black hole of the empty curse, eating away at the walls, inching it's way down the hall way above me. More glitches fly gleefully in and out of it.

The dazed glitches that fell down with me shake themselves and glare at me with a vengeance. So much for a plan.

Between the glitches and the black hole, I am out of time. I run towards Donovan, and hope for the best. I don't even manage halfway across the floor before I am running through an almost solid wall of glitches. I bite my lip and cover my nose, recalling their penchant for stealing my breath.

Suddenly, I am no longer touching the floor. The glitches with the mean little claws lift me right off the ground. I gasp in shock and have only a moment to realize my mistake before I can no longer breathe. I am flipped upside down, and only know that direction because I am almost dropped too.

I try to wave my knife in front of my face, just to catch a breath of air. I grit my teeth and try to at least tumble in the direction I think I saw Donovan.

I see his face in front of me, I try to reach for him, but his eyes open revealing misty blackness. The glitches cackle and Donovan's image comes flying at me. The illusion disappears like a wave of mist, breaking over my face.

Curse these horrid little buggers!

"Donovan!" I shout with the last of my breath.

The glitches taunt me with the sound of my own desperate voice, echoing from all directions. The world spins, and I am reasonably certain that that is not only due to my lack of oxygen. I strike out desperately with the knife, but it is like fighting the tide.

The glitches give a cackle like breaking glass as my consciousness starts to fade. I stubbornly refuse to give in and struggle weakly with the last of my strength. I have only a moment to wonder if maybe I will just wake up in the real world and all of this can have been a bad dream.

Sorry, Giselle, I guess I wasn't good enough.

I give a last uninspired flop, just before I lose the last of my consciousness.

I wake up just before I hit the floor. No, not the floor, not unless there is a great big fur carpet on the floor. I roll quickly off of him and look around. There is an invisible dome, just big enough for the two of us, the glitches beat about it and push their terrible little face up against whatever is protecting us. It's the curse, something about the dome is just so familiar, in the same way that I can sense the personality of the curse when I walk into a room, I can sense that same presence, stubbornly pushing back the glitches.

The dome shrinks just a little, pointedly reminding me that I don't have a lot of time here, and I had best get about with finishing the tale.

"Donovan," I shake him. He doesn't respond. I briefly recall Albert telling me that the curse will fail me if I let him die in Beauty and the Beast. No! He's not supposed to actually die, just fake it in our plan, this is too soon! He's got to still be alive, the curse is still helping me!

"Donovan!" I shout louder and beat his chest. I don't see his chest moving.

I recall the story's specifics, "I'll marry you!"

He doesn't move.

"No! Donovan you jerk! You have to wake up!" I shake his shoulders, on the verge of tears.. "Please! I don't care about how you look or your temporary stupidity!"

The dome shrinks again.

"I love you?" I try, collapsing on top of him.

The dome pulses and I feel Donovan gasp beneath me.

"Stay down!" I warn him as he wakes up. Too relieved to think of anything else to say.

The glitches scream their frustration. I give a weak smile, looks like we scraped a victory from the very last seconds. The dome fades away, as does his arm that he has wrapped around me.

I grab him tightly. No, not this time, this time, he is coming with me. I feel him warp in my arms and become smaller, normal sized, but we both hold on.

"I'm sorry I couldn't fight them off," Donovan shouts, but it reaches my ears like a whisper.

"I'm sorry I insisted on keeping that stupid clone around, and didn't get back sooner, and for yelling at you, and hitting you, and getting us stuck here in the first place!"

The curse gives a foreboding groan, like a tree about to fall over, but finally we are set down on solid ground.

I peek out from my clenched eyes.

"Elle! Donovan!" I hear Adele say from behind us, almost hiding her surprise at seeing us both here at the same time.

Donovan slowly releases his hold. I do the same, looking around to make sure we are in a safe place. Sure enough we are in Albert's tower. I sigh with relief.

"What happened here?" Donovan asks, noting the tipped desks and all the items on the floor. He keeps a hand on my back, as if just to assure himself that I am still here.

"Did the glitches -"

"Oh, no! No, no, no," Albert pops up from behind the large orb. "There was just- erg- There was-" he tries to explain while simultaneously trying to lift the orb back onto the stand it had fallen off of. Donovan hurries over to help him, dodging several brass gadgets and a fallen tower of books.

"There was... well, it was like a curse-quake," Adele explains to us as the two guys lift the orb with a series of grunts and slips on the scattered papers. The orb settles with a hollow thump sound on it's bronze stand.

Donovan and I look guiltily at each other. "Sorry about that," I mutter, "the glitches got pretty out of hand back there, and then the curse... well, I don't know, but it helped us out, I guess."

"The curse doesn't like to fail people, it is desperate for you to complete the curse and get out," Albert says in way of explanation as he looks the orb over, squinting through his glasses for any scratches or marks.

"Well, only one more tale to go, I suppose," I grin weakly.

"Ah yes, the Little Mermaid," Albert nods, adjusts his glasses and taps the orb with a frown. "Would you try and spin it a little to the left?" Albert asks distractedly of Donovan, who has been gravitating back towards me.

"And then we just have to break the curse's hold on everyone's consciousness, even though we have no idea what that involves," I affirm.

Albert nods, tilting his head either way trying to figure out which direction might make the orb work again. I nod, "Right, so then all we need is the harmless dagger to shock me out of the curse, you were keeping that safe after I got it, right?" I ask, looking around as if the dagger might be sitting on a shelf somewhere.

"I thought you had it?"

The orb nearly topples over again as Donovan jerks back with a strange gulping noise. I run over to stabilize the orb. "What do you mean you don't have it?" I shout, temper flaring.

"I'd like to know the same of both of you!" Donovan demands as we carefully release the ball to make sure it is stable again.

I now have Albert's full attention. "The knife should have been following you through the tales," he peers at the dagger in my hand. The glitch knife.

I hold the knife up with my scarred hand. "Well, this isn't it," my hand gives a weak throb in affirmation, "So where is it?"

"I don't understand," Albert mutters, "How did you get that knife?"

"I grabbed it off of one of the glitches," I say stonily. My stomach sinks to my feet.

"That is the only knife that has been following you through the tales?" Albert, repeats.

"Yes!" I shout, loosing my patience. "Here, hold it," I push the hilt into Adele's hands. "Maybe- maybe it's just like when I summon the glitch knife?" I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes shut. I try to imagine the knife that I found in Princess and the Pea. I think of how I hadn't felt a thing when testing it's edge. I try to envision what it had looked like, but I keep seeing the glitch knife and can't remember quite what the proper knife had looked like. I will the harmless knife to appear in my hand and sigh in relief as I feel the hilt enter my hand.

I open my eyes and see Adele, her mouth like an O. I look down in my hand and see the glitch knife. "No!" I throw the blade at the ground. I clench my eyes shut and try again. Again the glitch knife appears in my hand. "No!" I cry, and collapse onto a pile of scattered pages.

I glare at the dark blade in my hands, it seems to grin maliciously back at me. The knife swims in my vision and I bite back tears of frustration. No! Not now! Things aren't allowed to go wrong now!

I grit my teeth and look up at the trio surrounding me. Adele and Albert look expectantly at me, wanting to help but not sure how. Donovan can't meet my eye. "I-" I stutter, trying to think of what to do.

"Wh- Where would it be, Albert?" I ask, pulling myself back to my feet.

Albert furrows his brow, "I don't know. Perhaps it traded places with the blade you have now, so where ever the glitch knife came from I suppose?"

I search my mind, for how to get there. I don't know... but I might know someone who does. "Where is Giselle?"


	65. A Way Out

**I was surprisingly busy this week.**

A Way Out

A hand rises lazily from behind a large arm chair. "I'm right here, dear, no need to be so dramatic," Giselle's voice floats over to us.

I cover my surprise with a scowl and glare at the high backed chair, "Good, then we won't need to waste time explaining the situation to you." She could have made her presence known a little sooner...

There is a clink as of a teacup being placed on a saucer then some shuffling from out of sight. Finally, Giselle deigns to step out from behind the chair and grace us with her presence.

The infuriating smile that I had predicted on her face is strangely absent, and instead there is only the slightest downward tilt at the corners of her mouth. "Can't find the right knife, hmm?"

"We would like to," I bite back a sarcastic response. "Before the final tale starts would be preferable."

"So, of course, I should know," she mutters. "I wish I could tell you, but I really don't know how I could be expected to know the whereabouts of a knife I've never even seen before."

What could I say? That she has this air of knowing what's going on? That even now I just know she isn't telling me something? That she has magic that can combat the glitches so she must know _something_? Those are all just feelings and guesses! For some reason, I had just been so sure that Giselle would know what to do... "I guess, I'd just hoped," I mumble.

Despair creeps back over my mind, stifling new ideas for a Plan B.

"Is there anything you can do?" Donovan asks with remarkable composure, under the circumstances.

All eyes turn back to Giselle. She holds eye contact with Donovan and shifts uneasily. Finally, she speaks, "There maybe something I can do."

The relief is evident in everyone's expressions.

She seems to debate something for another moment and then announces, "We need to find Arbol too."

"You can't go back out into the curse to find a magic tree," Adele speaks up, "the glitches are everywhere and we don't even know which tales are still functioning."

My mind races but it is Albert who speaks up first, "I could make a tree."

Giselle nods, "It'll have to do."

"Come on, we are going to need some room," Albert leads us down the tower stairs.

Adele is walking down beside me, "It'll turn out okay, don't worry," she assures me.

I shake my head. "Me? Worried? I'm not worried," I lie.

Adele just gives a knowing smile.

When we reach the bottom Albert instantly sets about making his tree. I'm not quite sure how he did it, but there was a lot of mumbling and shuffling around, and suddenly there was a tree. Not a particularly grand tree, more of the thin sort of tree that looks like it just got past being a sapling.

"Arbol!"he calls, giving the tree a little knock. The tree shudders but no Arbol appears. Albert turns to me.

I roll my eyes and turn to Adele.

"Arbol?" she tries. Moments later Arbol sort of creaks, cracks, and tumbles out of the branches, quite a feat, as there weren't that many to fall out of.

"Owww," he groans, from his tangle on the ground.

"Ye couldn't make something a little bigger there? I feel all cramped, and I can't feel my toes!" he whines.

I probably should have given him time to adjust or even stand up, but I think a little rush can be excused. "Arbol, we need your help again, remember how I have been carrying around the glitch knife and it cut my hand, but it's the wrong knife and it took the place of the harmless knife that was supposed to be following me around and now we need to find where the real knife is before the next tale starts, otherwise I will have to stab Donovan!"

Arbol rubs his ear and squints his eyes, "And why does this involve me?"

Giselle steps out of the shadows like a Force To Be Reckoned With. "Stand up straight young man," she says in a voice like a grandmother turned drill Sergeant. Arbol shoots up and almost salutes. The tree even seems to be standing a little taller.

He takes a moment to as if trying to figure out why he is at attention and gives a hard look at Giselle with an expression that seems to ask if she is worth listening to or not. They exchange looks and Arbol relaxes a little, "So, why did you need me then?"

"Giselle did," Adele responds carefully, looking to the fairy. Meanwhile, I am trying to interpret the looks that Giselle keeps shooting Arbol.

"We're going to find that knife, Elle mentioned," Giselle explains, "Or try at least." That doesn't comfort me,

"Righty," Arbol shrugs, but never takes his eyes off of Giselle.

"Alright, into the tree, my boy," Giselle orders.

Arbol pouts but backs towards the trunk and disappears in a blink.

I rather expect Giselle to start chanting something, or waving a wand perhaps, something distinctly magical at least. After all, appearances can be very important for important events like this, with the lives of everyone hanging in the balance and all that.

Giselle however, completely ignores these apparently superfluous actions and just sits down in front of the tree, complaining about her hips, and closes her eyes.

We all watch intently, sure that something exciting will surely happen now, why else would we go through all this trouble of summoning Arbol?

We all wait several minutes, almost as still as Giselle herself. I keep expecting the curse to grab us at any minute and whisk us off to the next tale before we have time to get the knife. The suspense is killing me.

I give into a whim and sidle over to Donovan. He looks nervous. I don't remember if I have ever seen him nervous. Annoyed? Yes. Worried? Sure. But, he is legitimately scared. I hesitate only a moment, then reach for his hand. I don't dare break Giselle's concentration(or whatever she is doing) and talk, but I squeeze his hand and try to tell him all the same. He looks at me with a trapped sort of look and for the first time in a long while, I am intensely sorry that I ever cast this curse. He grips my hand so tight it hurts, then his glance drifts over to Albert and Adele. They are standing together, similarly nervous and seeking comfort together. I remember that their freedoms hangs in the balance as well.

Donovan sighs and loosens his grip, he gives me a little smile. I look away, because I can't stand that he can stay so calm when this is all my fault. I feel the familiar bubble of fear turning into frustration and then anger but I shove it back. There was nothing I could have done differently. We needed the glitch knife, or the game would have been up a while ago.

Giselle gives a displeased sort of "hmm" and we all turn back to her right away. Her leg twitches, but she is otherwise still. I groan silently.

We stand around for an eternity until Giselle suddenly gives a groan and stiffly tries to stand. Adele rushes over to help her up.

"Thank you," Giselle mutters, cracking her back.

"Well?" I ask impatiently.

"Well, I found it, but-" I barely even have time to feel even a moment of relief. She sighs, "I have no idea how to go about getting it."

"Well, where is it?" I insist.

"It's at the heart of the curse, where the curse gets the energy to create everything you see," she explains.

"Like, the center of the curse? Like the place we are trying to get to once we use the knife that is already there?" I ask tensely.

"Yes, that would be the main problem," Giselle mutters.

Arbol tumbles back out of the tree, "Boy, do I ever have a headache!" I glare at him.

No! There has to be a way of getting around this, we just need more time! But the curse tells us that there is no more time as both me and Donovan start fading.

"No!" I shout! "Albert, you have to figure out how to get me the knife, you have to!" Albert as turned pale but nods firmly.

Adele rushes over to hug the both of us. "Good luck," is about all she can manage. She is crying.

Giselle elbows Adele out of the way and I am about to yell at her but she grabs my arm in a vice like grip. She pulls my ear down to her head level. "The curse probably won't let you kill him. It was designed to keep the subjects safe, and it is clever. We will keep trying, but know that as long as you show every intention of killing him, the curse should snap you out of the tale the instant before you actually do."

And there it was, my way out.


	66. Waves

**The chapter might be a little dark. I just finished The Book Thief which, while delicious and completely enveloping, is not the most upbeat book. I think the mood fits though.**

**Oh, and I have a job-ish thing and I am moving into my dorm in a couple weeks. I tell you this first so that you know why the update was late, and second, because I want to finish before "college". Why the deadline? It's on my summer list of things to do.**

Waves

The sensation of "breathing water", is not a pleasant one. The realization that your feet are gone while you are trying to flail at the lack of air is equally upsetting. I should have seen this coming, I mean, the little mermaid does happen to involve me being a mermaid for the beginning, but there is just no way to prepare your lungs for the sudden switch to liquid. Mine, at the moment, were protesting strenuously. What was worse, I couldn't figure out how to maneuver the ridiculous tail thing now replacing the lower half of my body. So I was left gagging and hyperventilating at the same time, while swimming in ridiculous little circles.

I stop. I force myself to float perfectly still and get the hang of breathing, just breathing. You forget how naturally it comes when you are suddenly trying to move a much thicker and heavier substance through your lungs, but the fairytale magic holds and I do not die a horrible water logged death. I set aside a portion of my brain to constantly reminding myself that it is not only okay to breath underwater, but I need to every few seconds. I then look around at the clear ocean depths. A gradient of blues and a few questionable shapes in the distance are all I see, but I can see as clearly as if I'd been wearing goggles. The silence is eerie.

Next is getting the hang of swimming with only one appendage. My brain is convinced that I should be able to move my lower half two ways, and I end up having to think of the tail as just holding both legs together and doing a double kick sort of thing.

I think I've got the hang of this. I do a few loops just to make sure, and they are rather awkward, true, but I can finally move in a intentional sort of way.

With the immediate problems out of the way, I take a moment to examine what I look like. The curse was kind enough to provide me with some sort of bikini top that looks like ripped up bits of sail. Thank goodness for that.

I give an experimental hum to see if, since I'm breathing, can I talk? "Hello?" I try, and sure enough, I can hear myself as well as if I'd been on land. "Weird," I mutter.

I glance down at my tail. Scaly and blue and kind of unnerving to look at, you know, since my legs should really be there.

Now to get to the surface and get this tale moving. No pun intended

I take a moment to catch my bearings because I am in a perfect equilibrium and can't decide which way is up, which is strange to think, but without the air in my lungs pulling me up, or my legs sinking towards down, I have to think a lot harder about it.

I look for the brightest bit of blue, which ends up being what I'd thought was sideways and I have to reorient myself and kick towards that.

The colors change from dull to bright only reluctantly. Without any land marks to judge how quickly I am going, I feel like I am crawling through the water, despite how tired my legs- tail is getting. My mind of course, starts to wander towards the end of the tale, and what I am going to do. I slam the brakes on that train of thought and toss it off a cliff. I am not going to fret myself ragged worrying about it, because I know I would. I am just going to take this tale, one step at a time, hope that Albert comes up with a way to get the knife, and if he doesn't... Then I trust that Giselle knows what she's talking about. For now, I should be worrying about what to do if the glitches show up. Can they go underwater? Could I maneuver well enough to fight them? Should I summon the knife? Probably not, best to keep away from it for now, give Albert the best chance to get the harmless knife back.

I feel the water pushing me just a little more forcefully, and I swear the light is taking on a more rippled look. I double my speed and grin as, sure enough, I see the end of the water. Oh, air, how I missed you! I shoot above the waves so quickly I surprise even myself by shooting almost completely out of the water. I gasp from instinct of breaking the water's surface and gag. I fall back under the water, coughing bubbles and gulping water to cool the burning sensation suddenly filling my lungs.

Curses!

This is so backwards. I take a deep breath of water and much more carefully swim to the surface this time. The waves push me about like a toy, but my tail is much more effective for keeping me in place than legs would be. I look up at the starry night sky, then around at the endless black horizon. The water glows under the moonlight, tossing the oily white shine about the waves like foam. I can dimly make out a large black shape and the dull glow of lanterns. I grin, there's my ship.

I duck back underwater to catch my breath. I hadn't even realized how uncomfortable the air had been till I was back underwater. I rub my face and take a few more deep breaths, peek above the waves for the ship, then set off in that direction, riding the waves and darting through moonlight. With a reference point now I suddenly feel like I am flying through the water and the ship grows rapidly on the horizon.

That's when the moon disappears.

Ah yes, the ominous storm, right on time. The ship is still a ways off as thick clouds clot the sky and rain starts to ripple the last glimmers of moonlight. The wind picks up, whipping down larger and larger droplets from the clouds.

There is a thunder crash signal, and with a streak of light, the clouds take their cue and start a symphony of rain. I break the surface and dive into the river twisting vertically from the sky. Thunder pounds above and the rain tries its hardest to match it in noise. The wind eggs on the waves and the ship bounces dangerously on top.

I arrive at the ship just in time to hear shouts before they are drowned out by another boom of thunder and a flicker darting through the clouds. I squint at the deck through the rain and try to judge if anyone is falling off yet.

The wind catches at flags and sails as the little ants on board rush about to tie them up. A particularly eager burst of wind catches on a sail as it is being pulled up. It puffs up the sail and rips the sailor into the air, tilting the ship even further, spilling anything that isn't tied down, including the people. There are shouts and splashes and I take this as my cue.

I dart through ropes and fallen boards, aiming for the nearest flailing shape. I catch a look at his face. Not Donovan. I sigh and swim the flailing clone over to a floating bit of wood. He's still caught in the waves, but he's alive. I'd rather not watch someone drown, even if they're not real, it's gruesome. I end up helping two other men, now starting to get worried that I haven't seen Donovan.

I dodge through the wreckage that is still trying to figure out if it should sink or float, looking for a tell tale sign of bubbles and arms.

Where is he?

There is an explosion of bubbles right above my head and I shoot farther down to avoid being hit. I look up at the shape. The first thing I notice is the huge mast and the cloud like sail billowing water and trailing bubbles. Then I notice a figure, tangled in the ropes and sinking with the huge hunk of ship.

Looks like I get to play white knight again.

I kick up towards him, but he is too busy trying to escape from a tangle of ropes that he doesn't even notice me until I start helping. He nods and together we free him as quickly as possible. He is starting to fade so I grab him and in two kicks we are out from under the sail. In another three we are back next to the swaying ship, kicking to stay above the waves. Now he is breathing and I am holding my breath.

The rain is still pelting down, deafening us. Donovan shouts anyway, "The land is that way," and he points. I try to respond, but all that comes out is burbling and a lot of water. I have to duck back under the waves to catch my breath again.

I don't even have time to blink as I resurface before Donovan tosses me to the side, shielding me from the following crash as the rest of the ship's rigging crashes down around us. I kick us away from the wreckage as fast as I can.

"Thanks for that," I mumble to Donovan. He doesn't respond. I look at him in my arms and it takes me a full moment to remember that we are underwater and he can't breathe.

I shoot up to the surface and hold the two of us as high above the water as I can.

Is he breathing? I can't tell!

I can practically breathe above water, the rain is so solid, so I'm guessing that's bad for him.

Another torn bit of wood almost crashes onto our heads, I try to swim away, before I think better of it. I dash after the board, the huge waves proving a major obstacle, but I manage to grab it and drag Donovan on. The board it thin and he is rather precariously perched, not to mention the waves and wind seem determined to rip the makeshift raft out of my hands.

I grit my teeth and set off in the direction I think was land.

My tail hurts. My arms feel like limp noodles. I am exhausted.

The rain, settled down a while ago to a gentle sort of fuzzy drizzle. The waves are more subdued and lap almost apologetically at the raft and I. I am in no mood to forgive them.

I wish I could rest on a bit of the raft, but I can't stay in the air that long, my lungs are still full of water, besides, there isn't enough room. Titanic clichés be damned.

Finally, through the fog and rain, I spot a dark sliver, floating on the horizon. At first, I wonder if it is just the sunrise playing tricks on me, but as I get closer, I see shapes grow distinct corners and edges. A beach! A house! Oh, land!

Normally, when the hero finally sees the end in sight, they forget their fatigue and run towards their destination. I only wish I could say the same. That last half mile to the shore was the most painful yet. The tide was against me every moment until it suddenly decided to switch directions and dumped me unceremoniously on the beach, and then sent me scrambling away as it tossed Donovan up after me.

I lay stretched out on the beach, coughing out water as I tried to crawl back toward the surf, but I felt so heavy and uncoordinated, I could hardly lever myself up onto my elbows.

Air rushed in to my chest, scorching and burning out the water. I collapsed on the beach certain that I was about to die any minute now. The last of the water was rejected in a final furious bout of coughing and then... I was breathing normally again. I sucked in the oxygen desperately, ignoring the pain because the air was so wonderfully familiar.

I lay there just breathing for a while, cursing the idea that mermaids were supposed to be able to breathe both water and air. With the air in my lungs I felt a little lighter and I could crawl around a little easier. I was still pulling dead weight below my naval, but I made it over to Donovan.

He was breathing.

Well good, we both were then.

I'm supposed to leave him to be found, without waking him. Unfortunately, there are things he needs to hear. I sigh and give his shoulder a shake. He stirs but doesn't wake up. I almost don't try again, to wake him. Just to sit and watch him sleep, so peacefully. Dreams, where I don't have to pretend to kill him to save ourselves and all the other beings trapped in here.

I think of the Little Mermaid tale, she got to steal a kiss before she left him didn't she? I look at Donovan's face and can't decide if I wish he would stay asleep so I can keep watching over him, or wake up so I can shrug off this frivolous ache to lean over and kiss him right now.

Now, really, Elle. I chide myself. You can exert a little self control for just one more tale! I bite my lip, but- What if something goes wrong? What if I never get the chance to tell him- to figure out for myself how I feel? I could tell him. But I don't even know what words I would use. If I said I loved him? I think even I would still wonder if it was, yet again, just me saying it for the curse.

I am running out of time! Time before I could be trapped here forever, or Donovan could- or- and I'll regret it, I know I will, and all because I have to stay responsible and safe!

I shake him, perhaps rather more harshly that I should. "Donovan, wake up."

He groans and coughs a bit. He blinks awake and levers himself up on his elbows. The tide licks his feet, my fin.

"Donovan," I launch right in to the news he's got to hear. "Giselle grabbed me before I left the tower. She said- if Albert fails, the curse was meant to keep the people in it safe, I shouldn't be able to actually hurt you, I just have to convince the curse that I really mean to." It sounds weak even to my ears.

"Well, that solves a lot then," Donovan says, putting on a flippant grin, he leans back casually, "I didn't even hope it would be so easy."

I almost hit him. How can he be so relaxed?

Didn't you hear me? I want to scream. Shouldn't. Probably. Maybe. There is just as much a chance that the curse will be distracted by glitches, too slow, too weak, that I really might kill him!

I suddenly come to a decision.

"I'm not going to," is all I say, quietly. Calmly.

'Donovan frowns at me, "Why not? I think there is a rather large chance that Albert won't be able to get the knife we want. This seems as easy a solution as any."

It's not easy! Not at all!

"I'd rather not take the risk," I mumble. The air seems to burn, not only my lungs now but my face.

"You're not suddenly getting squeamish on me now? What about 12 Dancing Princesses when I nearly got hit over the head with a chair leg?" Donovan forces another grin, what he probably hopes is reassuring, but I can see through it now.

"I'll find another way," I meet his gaze, trying to tell him with my eyes what I can't seem to with my lips.

The waves seem to pound out hours on the sand.

He doesn't say a word, but I catch the set of his jaw and the decision in his sigh. "You should go," he says finally, but he catches my hand before I can turn away.

Pull me closer. Say it first because I don't think I can.

He doesn't.

After another moment he lets me go and I crawl away to hide in the waves.


	67. Wait, What?

** Yes! I am updating! A nice long chapter that I have been squirreling away from you all. I am going to disappoint you all though, because this is all I have, and I cannot tell you when the next chapter will come. It WILL COME. Promise, I am not forgetting or giving up or anything along those lines. I just have to rustle up the time and determination necessary to find my way to the end of this "story"**

Wait, What?

I figure if I swim down far enough the curse will lead me to the underwater kingdom. Sure enough, without having any idea where I am going I find myself swimming straight towards a sparkling colorful city, built like a coral reef. The buildings stretch and twist in ways that they would never be able to on land, exploding with color and crammed together without any sort of organization or plan. Pearls glitter on rooftops and fish and merpeople dart around buildings and into windows. It's almost pretty enough to distract me, but I have important things to do.

I don't know when the glitches are coming so I might as well get as much done before they show up as I can. That means skipping the chat with the family and the many trips to the surface to stalk the prince. I'll just jump right to the sea witch, if that's alright.

So I turn away from the lovely reef-city and head instead farther down the seascape, towards a murky looking crack scarring the sandy face of the seabed. I mean, if I was going to hide a sea witch cave somewhere, that would certainly be it. As the tale dictates, there is a forest of creepy gray weeds growing out of every surface on the canyon walls. They reach out with hungry tentacles to snatch at anything unlucky enough to come within reach, their branches littered with the remnants of those not fortunate enough to get away. I feel the temperature of the water there drop several degrees. I swim rather quickly through that bit.

The canyon slopes farther down and the weeds become more plant like and stop trying to grab you, more of just getting in the way. I push my way through and almost swim right past a green glowing hole in the wall leading deep into a cave.

Cold water leaks out of the cave, so cold I almost expect to run into icecubes. Stone teeth jut from all directions, just to finish off the creepy mood. I take a deep breath and dive in.

The cave seems way too long, and I start to worry that I missed something.

"Adele?" I call into the glowing green.

I hear a laugh only a little ways away. I swim eagerly forward and after a final tight squeeze I find myself in an underwater equivalent of a voodoo hut. Pretty much the only difference being that it's in a cave and everything floats, not just the things in the jars.

The green glow is coming from a bubbling pit in the ground, and across from that is a chair made of the jaws of some kind of huge shark. In the dim glow is seated the sea witch.

"As if the sea-witch is the real villain in this tale," Giselle answers my question for me. "It's hardly her fault that the little mermaid fails."

"How is Albert doing? Can he- does he think he can get the knife?" I blurt.

Giselle flicks her eel like tail, in irritation perhaps?

"So you have come here to find legs?" her avoidance of the topic speaks volumes.

I bite back my frustration and nod, "Yeah, sure, why not." Giselle still seems to like reading from her part, old habits die hard I suppose, and you know, I really don't feel like putting up a fuss at the moment.

"When you drink the potion I give you, it will feel as if a sword were passing through your tail, and every step you take on your new legs will be agony. But for all that, you will walk as gracefully as if you were still underwater."

"So still not very graceful then, huh?" I mutter under my breath.

"Of course, it comes with a price. I will require your sweet voice as payment."

"Go right ahead," I try not to think too much about the fact that she is going to cut out my tongue.

Giselle nods grimly and sets about throwing any number of things into the glowing hole in the ground. Smoke billows out of it, sending me into yet another coughing fit.

The smoke disperses after several moments, and now the cave is glowing like sunlight through a prism, clear yet colorful, and terribly sharp.

Giselle dips a bottle into the pit and fills it with the shining, clear gel. Of course, it is gel, because any sort of liquid potion would just float away.

She hands me the bottle and then pulls out a knife like a very large needle. "And your voice," she says.

I lick my lips, close my eyes, and stick out my tongue. Oh Grimm.

Even with my eyes closed, I can see the glint of the knife, feel the icy steel touch the tip of my tongue and-

"Be sure to keep quiet up there," Giselle says, pulling away the knife. I open my eyes and just catch her wink at me. If I wasn't floating I would probably collapse in relief. I don't deserve this break, I mean, Donovan isn't getting one, but I'm not about to argue.

"Thank you," I mutter, and hurry over to hug her. She seems startled, but she nods and pats me on the back. I'm not sure if we are quite "friends" but she means well I suppose, and if something goes wrong, I probably won't see anyone again. I'll take my hugs were I can get them.

I wave, and then I am out of there, eager to get back to warmer water, and moving this curse along.

It is drizzling and gray when I reach the beach. After coughing water out of my lungs for what is hopefully the last time, I arrange myself carefully on the sand and then glup down the potion. Best not to give myself any time to hesitate.

The potion tastes sharp as it slides languidly down my throat. Sharp like cold and steel, not like cheddar at all.

Nothing happens for a while. No ripping sensation, no legs, nothing. I give my tail an experimental wiggle and instantly regret it. A tear forms up the length of my tail and white light outlines a set of legs that don't yet exist. It's less of a sword cut and more of a hot iron sensation.

I faint.

The first thing that greets me as I wake, is not Donovan's concerned face, which would have been quite nice, but a face full of heavy and slightly damp cloth. I flail, trying to escape from the many folds of fabric.

"I figured you'd want to wear that, rather than try to cover yourself with your nonexistent hair," Donovan's voice floats down through what I now identify as a dress.

"Ah- Right, good idea," I mumble, then cover my mouth as I remember I'm not supposed to be talking. I peek out of the folds of the dress to make sure Donovan is turned away, then quick as I can I pull the dress on.

You can turn around, I almost say, but I bite my tongue and curse how bad I always was at playing the silent game. Instead, I stand up to walk over, and collapse again as soon as my foot touches the ground.

Okay, OUCH!

I mentally berate myself for choosing the absolute WORST fairy tale to declare "my favorite". I had managed to avoid almost all forms of self injury and pain that these fairy tales are practically littered with, and now in the last tale, I can't even stand without feeling like the bottoms of my feet are missing.

Donovan is still turned politely away, listening to the waves. I frown and very delicately try again to stand. I walk on tip toe so as to touch as little of the ground as possible, wishing I could just float. It hurts, but I think it was more of the surprise that made me fall. For now, it is bearable.

I tip-toe over and tap Donovan on the shoulder. He turns around, "Well, it sure took you long enough."

I roll my eyes, biting back a response.

"Alright, to give you a quick summary," he starts, leading the way along the beach. I stumble after him. "We've spotted a few glitches, but there haven't been any attacks yet. Still, we decided that it was probably safest to stay together, and hope the curse is too distracted to try and restart the tale."

I try to get his attention to ask who "we" is. He doesn't even turn around to look at me. Curse it!

"We kind of figured we might as well treat it sort of like the Disney version for now because the human girl shows up earlier and we don't have to go to another country for the marriage, and maybe the curse won't even notice. Of course, we'll have to switch back to the Anderson version for the end, but even Lexi agrees with us that…"

Trying to keep up with him has gotten too painful, and he hasn't even looked back once! I guess if I'm not shouting and complaining he doesn't even notice something is wrong.

I fall onto my butt and glare at his retreating form. I reach for a shell and lob it at his fat head. It hits his shoulder, but it catches his attention just the same.

"What was that for?" he spins around and catches me several yards back, sitting in the sand. I wave my foot at him.

He catches the hint. Troll, it shouldn't have taken him this long to remember that painful bit of the tale. He jogs back over, muttering something that had better be an apology. I hold my arms up like a toddler signaling to be carried and flash my most winning smile.

Donovan ignores my obvious request and pulls me up saying instead, "Here, you can lean on my shoulder."

I don't have a twisted ankle or a bad leg! The problem is touching the ground!

I bite my tongue, frustrated that he is acting so cold. Yes, that's it! He's all business and propriety, giving me the cold shoulder for some reason, but what did I do?

I sigh and shake my head at his offer, just trying to signal that he should slow down. I continue trying my hardest to just sprout wings instead.

"Alright then," he shrugs, and continues "updating me" on what "they" have been doing.

I wave my arms, trying to get him to elaborate on who "we" is.

The castle comes into view like a giant white bird perched just above the ocean. We get close enough to see the curtains on the windows before he gets my question.

"Oh, Adele is here, she's the human princess. I thought that would be obvious." I suppress a groan and settle for rolling my eyes.

Well, now I guess what Giselle had said about the witch not being the villain makes sense. The human princess is the one who technically keeps the prince from marrying the little mermaid.

The beach turns to a path up to the castle. A path lined with gravel and sharp bits of shell.

Who's cursed idea was this?

I manage three steps before I decide it's not happening and I do a flying leap back onto the sand. I sit sandy and stubborn on the beach. If Donovan is going to be a troll, well- fine, but I'm not going up that path. If they want me in the castle they can… lower a basket or something and haul me up through the window.

Donovan looks at me like he can't figure out what's wrong, and I bemoan the fact that I am not allowed to yell at him. I think it makes it even worse to know that I COULD talk, but I'm not supposed to, and according to Donovan, they are already messing with the tale enough, at this rate we'll all have to start over as soon as I open my mouth and we'll get eaten by glitches or something!

Donovan looks down at the gravel; he hadn't even noticed. Troll.

I glare at the ocean. And here I'd been hoping that, for this last tale, before everything could go wrong… I wouldn't want to strangle him!

"Alright, fine," Donovan says as he stoops down to pick me up. I can almost hear him roll his eyes.

He holds me very stiffly as he carries me up the hill, and it's not a nice bridal style hold. No, I'm being carried up the hill, fireman style. It is a relief to be placed heavily onto the tiling of the entrance.

"You might want a nicer dress than one that's damp and covered in sand," Donovan suggests, "Shoes might help too."

With only that he walks off, leaving me fuming in the middle of the hall.

I hike up my skirts and furiously try to float up the stairs. I duck into the nearest room with a bed and a wardrobe. I slam the door and throw myself on the bed.

Troll!

He's not even a funny or witty troll anymore. He's just cold and confusing, and… I thought… he said…

I yell into my pillow, relieved to make any sort of noise, no matter how wordless.

The orange sunlight slants in through high windows, reminding me that I should get moving. I pull myself up off the bed and open the wardrobe.

I fall back and scream, because sitting on a coat and grinning meanly is a glitch.

On instinct I start to summon the glitch knife, but stop myself before I do. The glitch does nothing, just stares unnervingly at me.

They have something planned. The face of the glitch tells me plain as day, just as if it were speaking to me. The glitch gives a cackle like nails on a chalkboard, then it is gone.

I shudder.

We need to finish off the tale, quickly.

The shoes help a little as I make my way down the stairs. They are similar to a band-aid in that there is a thin little layer that makes you feel better about the pain until you put pressure on it.

I'm hungry.

I grit my teeth against the impulse to call Lexi so she can lead me to either Adele or food, preferably both. Unfortunately, the best I can do is wander painfully until I run into someone useful.

Lexi, I shout mentally, where are you!

I head down, in hopes of at least finding a kitchen. I start to see more puppets wandering around, carrying things, and I take this as a good sign.

I pick a servant carrying a tray and follow him.

He leads me up a set of stairs through a hall, past a balcony-

"Elle!" I turn towards the sound and there, seated on the balcony, is Adele. She looks beautiful of course, the sun setting behind her, a princess gown that actually suits her. "Oh Elle, I'm so glad to see you!" she spouts and rushes over to hug me.

"Come on, let's go upstairs, Donovan and I have been talking about how to speed up the tale, but you really are the best at it Elle," she shuffles me off of the balcony and up a new set of stairs. My stomach protests, and I dumbly try to repeat the sentiment.

"Oh! Of course! I'm sorry, Elle, I'd forgotten," Adele apologizes. Oh Adele, I knew you would listen to me!

"Excuse me," she turns to a butler sort of puppet who just entered the room. "Would you please help my friend up the stairs? She can't walk."

The puppet nods and before I can so much as shake my head, I have been picked up and practically run up the stairs.

Curse it!

I am set down, flustered and fuming in a wide windowed banquet room. While it may be a banquet room, there is no food, only a long empty table. Because the world hates me.

I don't even spot Donovan until he stands up from the far end of the table. Lexi flits about his head as strides down to us. I note the silence but for his steps and the sunset behind him. He planned that, I just know he did. Way to play the majestic part.

"I'm glad you're here," Donovan says to me as he nears us. I'm glad too, I think. Either he or Lexi have to be able to get me some food. Not being able to talk really makes communicating my discontent much harder, but it will be done.

He takes two more steps and then he is sweeping Adele off her feet and kissing her.

Wait, what?

I stare in shock a moment as my brain sluggishly tries to catch up.

Then I have to start all over again when I realize that Adele seems perfectly fine with it.

What?

I… I know they are supposed to get married, but there is no call to go around kissing each other! What about Albert? What about me? What is going on here?

I erase the frown that is starting to form on my face. I don't know what game is being played here, but I am not going to be caught playing the fool.

Donovan looks me straight in the eye, and Adele doesn't even look flustered. I bite my tongue and try to give a smile.

Maybe it's part of the plan, and they are about to explain it to me.

Maybe they are being controlled by glitches and they are about to attack me.

Maybe I fell into a parallel dimension and Lexi will say something helpful.

My mind scrambles for reasons, and waits for the excuse, but nothing happens. Well, nothing that I was hoping for at least.

Donovan, smiles at me, pulls Adele closer and says, "We decided to move the wedding to tomorrow," playing the part of the prince perfectly. In fact, he is playing it too perfectly, because he is not supposed to be kissing Adele when he is in love with me! And she is not supposed to be letting him, when she is in love with Albert!

You- you don't just- This is all wrong, and I should know! What kind of fairy tale is this?

I force a wide smile and nod, clenching my teeth painfully tight. I can't demand an explanation if I can't talk, I'm not even sure what would count as a satisfactory explanation. So I don't even try. I… I have plenty on my plate already, rather than trying to figure out Donovan's tricks. I give them a little wave, spin on my heel, and march painfully off to continue my search for food which had been so rudely interrupted.

I manage to dig up the makings of a sandwich, in a small mostly untended kitchen off to the side. I spread the butter with a vengeance, and slap down the meat like it'd done me some personal offense.

I am sick and tired of everything in this curse. I chew determinedly. Why, if right now, I was offered the chance to get out of here and forget everyone else I- no, I wouldn't.

I glare at the last of my sandwich… I'm not even sure what I put in there. Alright, if Donovan wants to be all business, I can do that. I am great with that! He's- he's not even my true love anyway!

I storm off to find a bed, and even then I dream stubborn dreams.


	68. The Shock

** So yeah. Turns out I didn't drop off the face of the earth. You should all thank Clar the Pirate for reminding me that while I may still be struggling with ending this thing, you all might like to read an update sometime before The Singularity(I'm an electrical engineer, I'm allowed to reference stuff like that). I have been fiddling around with a few ideas, but I think this whole bit in this chapter is not about to change, so I'm not too worried posting it. Hopefully most of you still remember what is going on? I should add a quick recap... yeah alright, I'll be a responsible author for once and make sure that my readers aren't totally lost. Skip it if you don't need it. Enjoy dears!**

_Recap:THE PLAN- When Elle cast the curse she totally screwed up which allowed a pile of glitches to sneak into the curse. As more of them found their way in they became bolder and have been wreaking havoc and destruction like it's their job. This sorta sucks because the glitches have no qualms about trying to eat people, and they can form a huge monster boss baddie. On the other hand, they are doing a stand up job ripping up the very seams of the curse which would allow people trapped in there to sneak into places they wouldn't normally be able to reach(like the real world) if the right conditions are provided. For example, when Elle was running through the in-between worlds and squeezed past whatever barrier ad been broken down to get closer to the mysterious pink tower. Using this, the plan that Elle and Albert came up with was to wait until the very last tale in order to let the glitches tear up the curse as much as possible and then use the curse's own safety measures against it. The curse supposedly will not let its inhabitants die if it can help it, so if the princess were to say, attempt to kill her prince,the curse would automatically fail the princess and reset. Albert believes that at this time, the princess will be flung to the center of the curse where Elle can break the hold that the curse has on all their minds(whatever that hold is), and then everyone can slip out through the holes in the curse, hopefully without leaving their mind behind and turning into a vegetable. The original plan was to stab Don with the fake knife that Albert had stored in the Princess and the Pea tale, but the glitch knife that Elle has been running about with seems to have displaced the preferably non-lethal knife. Fun times will ensue. Speaking of Albert and his strange taste in friendly weaponry we move on to THE HISTORY- There are a few characters that all seem mixed up in whatever happened when this curse was created. The king, the witch, the witch's daughter, Arbol, Albert, and Giselle. The general story that seems to be sticking at the moment is that the King originally ordered the curse to be constructed so that he could choose the matches for his various children. Someone took an unhealthy interest in Albert, Giselle helped him fake his death, and now Albert has no memory of his past. Also, whatever went down seems to have trapped everyone else for an indeterminate amount of time. That should probably be about everything. If something here doesn't seem to quite match up with the story, to be honest, it's probably right here. Or one of the characters got it wrong. I think Gural did that once for example. Anyway, it makes sense to me, so hopefully in two-ish more chapters it will all make sense to you too. _

The Shock

I wake up in the morning, at a complete loss for things to do. I can't bring myself to wander downstairs, first because my feet hurt just at the thought of walking, and second because I do not want to run into anyone at the moment. I spend some time making my bed, a little more taking a bath and dressing up nice.

I wander over to the window and sit down. There is a wonderful view of the ocean, and right below is all the hustle and bustle of puppets getting the marriage ship prepared. My stomach knots anxiously.

I turn away from the window, hoping that if I have no way to reference time, the curse will speedup and I won't have to wait as long. The seconds tick by, each one suspended and stretched in the way that only nervousness can accomplish. Everything seems so quiet and still, a sort of calm before the storm I am sure. I wish I could pace or run or something.

Why can't the end of the tale just hurry up and happen? I am suddenly struck with am image of stabbing Donovan. I try to wipe the image from my mind, but the harder I try, the more I think about it, until I can practically see him dying in front of me, blood stained, with betrayal written in his eyes. Suddenly time seems to be flying by, there could never be enough time in between now and then. Albert just needs more time! I just need to think of a way out of this situation. My hands clench and my mouth tastes bitter and dry.

I spend the rest of the afternoon with the unpleasant lurching sensation that time is moving both too slow and far too quickly. By the time Lexi pops reluctantly into my room I am sure I am going to be sick.

Lexi takes one look at me and right away orders me up on me feet and downstairs. She ushers me through the halls and out the doors, all the while listing everything that is going to happen and everything that I am going to have to do. I don't hear a word of it. I don't want to hear it. I know she is trying to help, in her own very distinctive way, but I know what is coming and I don't want to hear it in words.

I am caught in the current of smiling puppets as they board the ship and drift and buffet me towards a seat. The entire ship is frosted in white, flowers and ribbons and arches all mind numbingly white. The ship wobbles quite a bit as it leaves the dock and heads out into the bay and even in the calm water, never quite seems to get its footing. I am not sure when the wedding music started, it drifts past me just as noisome and unimportant as the gull calls. I stare out at the sea, searching each wave as if perhaps I managed to misplace my determination on this crest here and my confidence on that swell just past it. I glance up at the front, at some point Adele managed to get up there without my noticing, though I suppose, at present, a herd of elephants could put on _Hamlet _without my noticing. The priest is speaking. Adele and Donovan are staring at each other. _Lovingly_, I suppose it might be termed. Donovan's eyes flick towards me and I try to look as if I hadn't even been paying attention. I look back at the waves, a safe place to stare for the moment. At some point the service ends. At some point the dancing starts. At some point the chairs are moved, and the people drift below deck, and the sun sets, and I am left sitting alone and cold on the dark little island floating on the sea. My mind wakes up, or at least enough to realize that I have to get up, and every muscle in my body shivers and tenses. My hands are numb, my face is numb, my mind went numb a while ago.

Rain starts up, and I wouldn't have thought it was possible to be any more cold than I already am, but there you are. I stumble to the rail and stare down at the black waves.

Maybe Albert- I sigh, I don't even have the capacity for false hopes anymore. I pick absent mindedly at a rose bouquet attached to the rail. White petals drift down to brave the waves like little sails, only to be smashed up against the side of the ship and tumble down into watery eternity.

Suddenly, there are a pair of eyes, shining in the water. The glimmer of scales, a flick of hair, and then a whole school of mermaids materialize out of the waves. If school is the right thing to call it anyway. They are by no means pretty. They look to be a combination of a water logged corpse and a sickly sort of fish. Oh, and they have black glitch eyes.

The wave swells, then swells again. The mermaids, my supposed sisters, are lifted up to the hight of the rail. Wordlessly, one reaches out a dull white hand and presents the knife. My hand throbs with familiarity.

I snatch the knife from the glitch mermaid, and she gives me a cheeky grin. One that very obviously says, there are more glitches coming, and we know you have been backed into a corner; now just follow the story. Follow the story and accept defeat like a good little human.

Anger flares in my mind. Since when have I ever accepted defeat? The glitches cackle as if my resistance is merely amusing and the flame of rebellion stutters with the rain drops.

No.

Some sort of empty glitch threat is going to stop me? Damp self pity is suddenly an insurmountable force? No.

It's not the weak flash of anger that drives me. Anger is just the spitting side effects of the embers of down right stubbornness and the tinder of a well formed plan. Maybe it's not the best plan, and maybe it's the only one I've got, I think, stoking the embers in my mind, but what's more important is the reason that I have to do it, that reason is what matters. Here I've been burning hot and distracted, nursing my pride and frustration, but that's all wrong.

I'm doing this for my friends. I'm doing this to right wrongs. Because well meaning people like Gural and Albert and Adele have been serving this mockery of a fairytale for too long. Because it has turned people like Giselle bitter and cynical.

I'm doing this because I have a bit of my own white knight complex, and curse anything that tries to get in my way!

I march towards the cabin, shaking like a leaf.

I can do this! I remind myself, and push open the door.

I slip into the shadows, frozen as my eyes adjust to the darkness. A lump on the bed slowly becomes Donovan and the lump beside it must be Adele.

I feel my fire of righteous purpose, morph as it feeds on the fuel of, well... jealously, with a lacing of betrayal.

I grip the knife harder and stalk up to the side of the bed. Donovan lies shirtless and prone. The hurt in my mind demands that I return the favor for stabbing me and Albert in the back. He said he loved me.

I grit my teeth and raise the knife. Here's for lying.

The blade doesn't move.

I have to do it. I have to do it for everyone else. And it's not like he doesn't deserve it. Besides, Giselle said he'd be fine, probably.

I see his arm protectively over Adele. My mind flashes back to Rapunzel, and how he hadn't even considered the thorns when I was in trouble, to the look he gave me in Midsummer's Night, to Snow White...

What ever is going on now, there's a reason. My determination leaks out through my toes. After all he has done it's not fair! And I'm not even sure how I mean that. He's been such a jerk so many times that I have every reason to have no qualms about throwing a knife at him. But he has worked so hard to help me and everyone else in this curse, why should he be the one to risk his life and why should I be the one to take it?

My hand drops and I lean against the wall as I stare miserably at the knife in my hand.

"I should have known you wouldn't be able to do it."

I start up to see Donovan carefully sliding out of the bed, very much not asleep. He shakes his head and sneers as he stands up.

"Everyone is depending on you, but you're just going to sit there and cry."

"I'm not crying," I mutter.

"You are weak," he spits.

"What is wrong with you?" I snap, "Why are you being such a jerk?"

"Why are you being so useless?" he counters. He steps threateningly forward. "Giselle was right."

I bite my lip and glare at my feet, fighting back the sting of tears. He knows every button to hit doesn't he?

"Come on, look at me!"

I glare up at him. Meet his eyes, hoping to see the blackness of glitches, but there is just him. Just Donovan.

I look at the door, the ceiling, the bed... I frown. Adele has been oddly quiet.

I clench my teeth and walk quietly towards the bed.

Donovan blocks the way in front of me, "Come on, what's wrong?" he challenges.

I wordlessly try to push past him, he pushes back, but I catch a glimpse of the bed. What I had thought was Adele was just a bunch of pillows and a wig.

"Haven't I done enough to make you hate me?"

Understanding crashes so hard into me that it knocks me windless.

"You're just some useless damsel," he taunts, but now I hear the edge of fear in his voice.

"Donovan, stop it," I mumble, but he just pushes me back.

"Come on, all those times you've wanted me dead? Here's your chance!" he pushes me again.

"Donovan, STOP IT!" I shout, "I see what you're doing and you're not making this any easier!" My fists press against my eyes then pull at my hair, "I know that there's no other choice and I get it. I just... just stop," and I rush into his arms.

He freezes a moment then breaks down and holds me tight.

"That was a terrible stupid idea," I mutter.

"I thought I'd try at least."

We stand together and I don't ever want to move. I just listen to his heart beat, knowing that every moment it beats out brings me closer to having to let go.

"I'm so sorry, all of this is my fault," I say, finally pulling away.

"It's not so bad," he whispers, pulling me back, refusing to let me out of his hold. "But when we get back, I think you owe me a kiss for all of this trouble."

I swallow hard. "Right... when we get back," I agree.

This all feels so wrong. If this were a proper fairy tale there would be a last minute fix for everything, and I wouldn't be standing here chocking around the truth instead. We would find away to beat the curse together and there would be some sort of earth shattering kiss. I look up at him and realize that if this doesn't work, I may never see him again.

He catches my look, and it just sort of bursts out, "I love you," I admit. No shouting, no powerful declaration, it comes out as more of a sigh.

He smiles just a little and looks me directly in the eye and then with all of the confidence that I lack, "I love you."

I imagine leaning forward and kissing him, and I want to so much that it hurts.

That is when the curse starts to fade to black.

I look about frantically, I'm not ready yet!

"Elle, hurry!"

I look at him. The knife in my hand is burning like a hot coal. There is an entire moment where I swear the world turns upside down that in the next moment I am hardly sure what is happening. My head and my hand move at the same time in a single clumsy, crazy, terrifying movement. My heart stops because I am not sure which landed first, my lips on his or the knife in his back. I'm not sure if either even hit their target because Donovan and the ship and my breath are all wrenched away with such sickening abruptness that it leaves me gasping and seeing bright spots.

I land on all fours, my head reeling, tears streaming down my face. I want to lie down and cry.

I didn't kill him, I try to reassure myself, but the thought doesn't seem to stick as a sob breaks from my throat. It paves the way for more sobs that shake my body as tears run down my face. That horrid cursed knife. How would I know what it felt like to breach skin or not? Donovan! I don't have time to sit here and cry, but finally I have run out of walls to stop the tears and I couldn't have found the strength to move my leaden limbs if I'd tried. How am I-

Then another fearful thought hits me, what if I kissed him first? The sobs catch in my throat and suddenly I can breath even less. What if I completed the curse instead of triggering the safety systems and tricking it into sending me to the center? What if Adele and everyone are now trapped forever until they just waste away into nothing!

The more I think about it the more I worry that I did kiss him the split second before the knife hit him. Suddenly I am full of far too much nervous energy. How will I ever get everyone out now? I have let everyone down! Giselle was right, I wasn't up to the task, I am just some terrible self centered little girl.

I look up, fully expecting to see the library and ready to rush to the ancient spell book that got me into this whole mess and cry my apologies into it in some hope that they will all be able to forgive me.

I am actually surprised into momentary calmness when the sight that meets me is not the library, or any where familiar in fact. I wipe my eyes as my gaze skims across the mottled assortment of stone work which turns abruptly up to a short wall. I stand slowly, not sure what to think yet, turning to see the short wall surround me on all sides. I stumble to an edge, and am met by a long steep drop to the ground. I am in a tower. A quick look out into the darkness beyond and another look at the pinkish light radiating from the stones assures me that I am not just in any tower. I am in the pink tower from the darkness in the in between.

I turn back from the wall, still frighteningly calm considering my situation. There, in the center of the circle that forms what I suppose is the roof of the tower, is a short marble fountain radiating that rosy glow.

This? This is the center of the curse? This is what is keeping everyone here? It all seems so underwhelming.

"How odd, I don't believe you are supposed to be here," a voice like bells rings out behind me.


	69. So What?

** Not even a month later! I think... maybe about a month? Eh, calendars, who needs 'em? Anyway enjoy.**

So What?

I spin around and find myself facing a girl, barely older than myself. Short and blond, with a round face and cold eyes that seem misplaced and old in such a sweet face.

"That depends," I say carefully, "Is this the center of the curse?"

The girl laughs, "Of course it is, Elle. My Albert always was a clever one, his plan to get you here worked quite flawlessly."

"How do you know my- How do you know any of that?" I demand.

"Shock the princess out of the curse's control, and then sneak her to the center of the curse through all the holes made by the glitches, elegant, really," she continued as if she hadn't even heard me.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, Elle, don't you know me? You have been shouting at me for quite a while now! All of our adventures together? Fighting the glitches? Falling in love with Donovan? I do believe I know you quite well. And my mother has certainly dropped enough hints for you to guess." She laughs as she strolls slowly over to the water basin.

My brain lags painfully behind as it struggles to keep up with this girl.

"Oh dear, I see you are still confused," she sighs. "What a pity." She sits beside the basin and motions me to come closer.

I cast another glance out at the darkness. The distance seems to shift and glitter, I shiver involuntarily, images of the giant glitch sneaking through the invisible barrier rise to the forefront of my mind and I turn quickly away from the view.

I advance carefully as she leans over the water, smiles up at me, and proceeds to spit into the center sending ripples out across the glassy surface. I am taken aback a moment, and then even more so as I near the water and watch the ripples die almost instantly, revealing something new on the surface. I peer closer, and see an image of Albert in the watery mirror. As the image sharpens, I spot Albert and Adele and all of the fairy tale creatures all lying down, arranged in a circle in the darkness. My heart stops because none of them are moving.

"What is wrong with them?" I demand.

"Oh, nothing," the girl shrugs then smiles sharply up at me, "Your final tale ended, I am putting them back into hibernation."

"You are..." I pause and consider her words, "You are controlling the curse. You _are_ the curse."

"I certainly suppose you might put it that way," the girl shrugs.

I suddenly have to reconcile this new face with the previously formless personality that I had assigned to the curse. This might be a good thing though, I consider. It would have been difficult to have to figure out how to hack a physical thing, but this, this is a person. I think back to various scraps that I have been in. This is a person who has shown a willingness to be helpful. If I play this right, I might just be able to ask her to free everyone. I just have to ask the right questions.

I sneak a quick look at the darkness again. There again, a movement, a glimmer, but very certainly now, not just my imagination. The glitches are coming, and I'd better hurry up.

"How did you end up here?"

She smiles, that smile seems to be missing something, my first guess would be sanity. "Oh, Elle, you are a realizer, so I just know that you will be able to appreciate a story like this." She clears her throat and arranges her little pink dress about her knees. "You have of course realized that I am the witch's daughter," she begins.

"Of course," I agree, though I had previously realized no such thing.

"Well, when mother first was hired by that king to create this curse, she told me that it was meant to find one's True Love. She fed me any number of pretty stories about how the king wished only pure happiness for his children." Now her face grew dark. "And she lied to me."

"How did you find out?" I ask sympathetically.

She looked me in the eye with unflinching intensity. Something was hidden in the depths of that glare, something I couldn't quite put a word to. "Because her curse chose wrong. I know it did! The curse chose some rich little princess for him when it should have chosen me!"

"Albert," I fill in.

"Yes, Albert! My Albert, the one you have been trying to pair up with that Adele girl!" she snaps. "I always knew I was destined to be a princess. I just knew. Just like when I met Albert I just _knew_! He is MY True Love, and my own mother was going to just pawn him off to some princess just like his father wanted. My mother, once a great fairy godmother, refusing her only daughter her one chance at true and perfect happiness!"

I look up at this girl, then down at the sleeping figures in the water. That gleam in her eye, no longer a gleam but a light of madness that has completely taken her over. Everyone else is sleeping, but she is alone and awake, for centuries, left to deal with her own torturous thoughts and sense of lost love. But Albert's True Love? This girl? Really?

"Are you sure? I mean, maybe your mother realized that he wasn't really your True Love and didn't want you to-"

"NO!" she shouts, jumping to her feet and advancing. I hear the distant screech and scratch of glitches building along with her anger. "I have spent decades trapped in here, trying to fix this curse! I have matched up more True Lovers than you ever will in your entire lifetime as a realizer. I KNOW WHAT TRUE LOVE IS!" she screams shrilly. "Don't you dare try to tell me other wise, you who just killed your True Love!"

I feel like I was just punched in the gut though she didn't lay a hand on me. Donovan... I just killed... My breath comes in shorter and shorter gasps as I try to hold back a fresh bought of tears. Donovan.

"Yes, Elle," she sneers, "You killed him. Your one True Love and you will never see him again. And it is all your fault," she whispers now as she circles me maliciously. "Do you feel it? That sense of emptiness that threatens to break your chest apart? The leaden weight in every limb of your body? The knowledge that the one person in the world who could ever make you truly happy is out of your reach? That is all the pain that my mother has caused me! It tears at my heart every time I pair up a girl with her perfect prince and know that my Albert is so close and yet, infinitely far away! I have tried, so many times to leave this forsaken tower. To communicate with him. Every attempt in vain. He doesn't even remember me, Elle!"

I feel for this girl. She has been living a pitiful existence, but she is cruel and she is crazy, and if the story of how Albert got the magical knife is at all true then Albert is not in love with her, yet she would force herself on him anyway? And the more she talks and rants, the firmer my ideas grow.

"You are wrong," I say so quietly that she is forced to stop and not make a sound in order to hear me, "Yes, the curse was a terrible manipulative thing, made to take advantage of the innocent and naïve certainty that people have in True Love. And yes, you were certainly wronged, somewhere along the way. But you got so caught up in the stories and the romance that you lost sight of the Truth. Yes, your One True Love is certainly a nice thing to think about, but it's a lazy answer to a complicated question! Waiting and searching and holding out for True Love's Kiss and Happily Ever After just means you're setting your self up to be taken advantage of and ultimately disappointed. Who says True Love is a hard and fast thing? It's shifting and changes with how you grow and who you meet. True Love is what you make of it, and if you go on searching then you miss all of the love that is right in front of you!"

She stands speechless, like a statue, framed in the pink light.

"He doesn't love you," I say quietly, "you have to let him go."

She looks at Albert's face in the fountain, and she looks lost and sad and small. I dare to release a sigh.

A wordless scream rips from her mouth and suddenly she jumps at me. Faster than I can react, her hands are at my throat. She is much stronger than she looks, and purple dots dance before my eyes, but she has now lost the element of surprise and I manage to get an elbow to her side and a fist to her face. She rolls away, nose dripping red and eyes spilling tears.

"You witch!" she shrieks. "You cursed trollish thief of love!" She leaps again and claws for my face. And that, of course, is when the giant glitch shows up, smaller glitches orbiting like tiny malevolent moons. The glitch roars a sound like the earth opening up, but I don't have much time to be afraid because my hair is about to be ripped from my head.

I dig my nails into her hand and shove her away, rolling back and trying to keep both adversaries in sight.

The glitch watches us both as if trying to decide which to eat first. I try to look decidedly less appetizing.

The witch's daughter stares in shock at the glitch, her murderous rage forgotten for a moment. Then she recovers herself and rushes to the fountain, waving her arms and shouting words with no English meaning. The fountain starts to glow, and I scramble around the other side of the fountain, trying to keep some barrier between her, but I needn't have worried as the sudden movement seems to tempt the glitch in favor of her. The glitch bats at her, narrowly missing the fountain in its swipe. I've got my second to think.

I glance down at the fountain, the water is still shaking from its close call,and it turns out I don't even need the second. What had I been telling Giselle all along? What makes my case special? See, I've got something that no other princess had, something that will get us out of this curse. I've got a great big huge looming mistake and I know exactly how to use it!

"Hey, you ugly glitch!"

The glitch pauses, its new toy instantly forgotten in its enormous claw, but it looks hesitant, as if suddenly recognizing me as the wielder of the glitch knife.

Oh great! Now is not the time for the glitches to suddenly grow a sense of caution!

"Come on!" I shout, waving my arms and running straight at it. "Come on, lets play, you great stupid thing!" I will worry about whether this is the smartest idea later, much later. "Come on, follow-" Whoopmf!

And the air is knocked out of me as the witch's daughter is flung at me like a weapon. I push the struggling girl off me as I try to cough air back into my lungs. The giant glitch howls, or at least what I suppose is a howl and swipes a massive black claw at us.

I shove the girl out of the way and the momentum sends us both sprawling, the claw missing by only a hair. Well, that starts her yelling and the glitch howling and I grit my teeth and run at the glitch again, because what else am I supposed to do? I manage a kick before I am whacked completely off the ground and sent flying right over the edge!

My fingers scramble for a grip on the walls and with a sickening feeling they slip away and I am thrown into open space. Sheer terror grips me as I spin head over heels. I am hardly given a moment, however, to consider exactly how stupid I have been, because with an equally stomach twisting sensation, I am caught.

The glitch, is apparently not finished with me yet, because I am swung up like a rag doll to stare, upside down I might add, in front of its face. The giant glares at me with big rolling black eyes then roars a freezing screech so loud it leaves my head ringing and my vision scrambling to remember what focused even meant.

Well, I needed its attention, right? And now I have it, a moment before I get eaten. Note to self, this was a very bad idea.

Suddenly, there are pink fireworks everywhere, and I don't think it is just my spotty vision.

My first thought is that the witch's daughter is helping me, and before that thought even manages to fully form, a few of the explosions go off right in my face, setting my ears ringing again and burns streaking my face. Helping or not, the witch's daughter has distracted the glitch from eating me quite yet, and in its rage the glitch swipes at the tower and sends the entire thing shaking.

Meanwhile, I am sent hurtling through the air back towards the tower's top. I desperately try to twist to a better position to catch my fall, but I only manage about half a roll, and let me tell you, when falling, half landing safely doesn't really cut it. My knee collides first and then I have no idea where my limbs are.

I am lying on my side groaning because everything hurts, then screaming because my brain suddenly decided to let me know that my leg is just a fireball of pain. The glitch screams in response, more fireworks in the air and some sort of exclamation from the witch. I grit my teeth around my scream and bite it back. My mouth tastes like blood. I carefully move my neck, my arms, then look down to see my leg is at an awfully funny angle. I look up just in time to see the glitch bearing down on me and trailing pink explosions. Pure adrenaline sends me flying backwards across the stones with no idea of how.

The glitch crashes into the stones just as I back into the witch. Everyone screams for good measure, and then the witch curses something at me that I really can't make out. She aims a kick at me which sends me sprawling again, just as the glitch pounces at us. I am already rolling from the force of her kick, but the witch is caught beneath the full force of the monstrous glitch.

Hard stone smacks my side and stops me dead. I reach my hand around and use the obstruction to pull myself up a bit. The fountain swims before my eyes, bubbling and shooting sparks as its mistress frantically tries to free her arms. My eyelids flutter as I try to remember how she worked it. The thought never even enters my mind that I might not be able to use the fountain, because I am so far past caring. It will work.

I lick the sharp blood from my lips and spit into the fountain, just as the witch had. The water calms instantly from its boiling state to shuddering and sloshing as if confused. Breathing hard, I drag myself onto the rim and throw my hands into the water, because I am not actually planning at this point just acting on any desperate idea that seems applicable at the moment. I throw the water at the glitch and plead mentally with the fountain for something, anything, to happen to make the glitch charge. The water hangs in the air a moment, then suddenly triples in size and becomes a tidal wave crashing over the glitch.

The glitch blinks, then in confusion shakes the water from its head. The witch is left sputtering as the water drains away, then screaming protests as the glitch, sure enough, charges headlong at the fountain. With the last of my energy I throw myself out of the way just as the glitch crashes into the fountain, sending shrapnel the size of my head crashing in every direction. I cover my head and try to curl up as small as possible, the pain from my leg burning white hot in my mind, threatening my tenuous grasp on consciousness.

The entire tower starts shaking, and the glitch, emerging from the dust cloud that used to be the fountain, looks around then starts whining. In a single bound the glitch leaps off of the trembling tower, howling as any smaller glitches beat a hasty retreat, just as the shaking reaches peak frequency and a geyser of shining white water bursts from where the fountain used to stand.

The witch walks slowly from out of the corner of the vision, staring hollowly at the white water, shooting farther up than I can see. "It's all gone," she mutters, so quietly, I have no idea how I make it out, but her entire figure seems to speak it. Her bent back, and beaten gait as she walks haltingly forward. White light shoots from between the stones as, with an unfortunately familiar sensation, the tower starts to shake itself apart.

The witch cries and with a broken sob sprints and throws herself into the watery pillar.

"No!" I shout, but it is so many seconds too late. Then the stones finally break apart, spiraling and bumping around me as I fall into the shooting white light. Who knows if I broke the curse's hold on everyone, or just broke everything.

I tried.

_I told you I wasn't saving you from anymore towers,_ he'd said, and now he can't, because I killed him.

_So what if he's not your True Love?_ she'd said. So what? So what? If he wasn't then he might have been, or I wouldn't want a True Love anyway. But I can't because he's gone, and now, there is nothing to do, but fall.

**Haha, I wrote the line, cursed trollish thief, and suddenly wanted to write a story about one! Anyway, see you next chapter!**


	70. My Happy Ending

** Well, since I was on a roll, I figured I finish. Besides, the last chapter really ought to come out close to the last one.**

My Happy Ending

I wake slowly, suspended in a fluffy white cloud of clean sheets and softness. My mind sifts through fuzzy memories and dreamlike thoughts, slow to really wake up because why would I leave this comfortable-

"She's awake!"

Lexi.

I groan, because now I am awake. My body feels like one huge bruise and it is a struggle just to open my eyes. All around me I see fresh linens and large windows and empty beds of the infirmary. All so stunningly solid and real and familiar that I almost choke on a sob, because it is over, I am back and-

"Oh Elle!" Suddenly my view is blocked by a crushing hug and any number of happy exclamations.

I moan and Adele jumps back. "Sorry, Elle," she says, "I am just so happy that you are okay!"

My mouth feels swollen and unwieldy, but I manage.

"Define okay."

She smiles and looks about ready to hug me again when, thankfully, Gural steps in.

"Now, now, let's give her a bit of room," he waves Adele off, "Why don't you go let everyone know she's awake? I'm sure they'll want to know," he motions and she and Lexi dart off.

"As for you, princess," he turns on me with a look reserved for naughty children. "Now that you are awake," he holds up a small cup. "Drink it. All."

I lift my heavy arm, untangle it from the sheets, and accept the cup. It tastes awful and goes down worse than the sea witch potion, but Gural promises that it will start working in a few minutes. Whatever that means.

I pull myself a little more upright and notice the cast on my leg.

"My leg-"

"Broken in two places," Gural fills in. "Fools here wanted to spell it back to normal, ha! Lucky I was here," he nods, shuffling about. I finally notice the short white coat he seems to have procured.

"Lucky?" I ask, still trying to prop myself into some sort of sitting position.

He nods and bustles over with another stolen pillow for me, "Bones especially don't like you messing around with their healing process. Lean forward a bit- there. You try to magic them right and they will never let you forget it. You'll see eventually with your hand there," he motions to the scar from the glitch knife. "And your arm and your shoulder and whatever else the curse magic-ed better for you."

"I didn't know you were such a doctor," I grimace and I run a hand through my hair, another little reminder the curse decided to leave me with.

"Nah," he waves off, "Giselle's been looking after the real doctoring. I'm more of just playing nurse to keep those school nurses away." He nods resolutely. "Won't have those frauds messing about with our princess!" He chuckles and smiles. "You should have seen the crowd in here earlier, all the fairy tale creatures wanting to see you well. Had to get Falada to try and herd them out, and even that didn't work very well until Giselle started threatening to hex everyone still in the room by the time she found her wand." He pauses and pats my arm. "We all owe you a great debt, Princess."

"You know, we're not in the curse anymore, I'm not a princess."

"Really? Well," he smiles like he knows something I don't.

The door opens and in bounces Arbol followed by a fuming Giselle. "Ah, there you are," Gural greets them.

"That fool headmaster is trying to _bargain_ with me," Giselle complains. "He knows very well what appropriate salary is for a teacher with half the experience that any of us have is and-"

"I take it you left Albert to deal with him?" Gural finishes.

"She left Albert to deal with him," Arbol grins.

"Whatever game that infuriating man is playing, Albert seems to be better at it than I," she concedes. "Ah, Elle," she says, finally turning to me, "I see you are awake."

"It would seem so," I respond. "Though I am still trying to decide whether that is a good thing or not-"

"Elle!" there is a crashing noise as waring and suddenly Jaz bursts through the door. "You got half a army out there," she motions to the door, "Didn't want to let me through, but I heard you were awake and-" she pauses as she takes in everyone's looks, "Not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Course not," I assure her, "Glad to see you're doing well too!"

Jaz grins with a look that very clearly says she has about eight hundred questions that I _will_ answer.

"Ah, Miss Jasmine, I believe it was," Gural smiles, "You are of course free to visit, but just now I believe Giselle was about to do a check up."

"Oh right-" Jaz fumbles as she is gently herded towards the door. "Anthony and I will be back soon and you'd better be awake!" she calls before she exits.

Gural also addresses me from the door frame,"I shall return soon as well. Princess." The door clicks shut behind him before I get a chance to protest.

I shake my head and try to hide my grin.

"You'd best get used to it," Giselle advises, catching my look, "All of the creatures seem determined to refer to you as such, even the ones that haven't even met you," she pauses and gives me a look. "Particularly the ones who haven't met you."

Same old Giselle.

"Sounds like everyone is managing to settle in reasonably well," I comment as Arbol sniffs my empty cup and Giselle digs about in the cupboards.

"Well, we are not completely helpless without you around," she responds.

"How about you, Arbol?" I ask, "They setting you up as a teacher too?" and I have to suppress a grin at the thought of Arbol teaching a bunch of kids twice his size and apparent age.

He snorts, "Hardly, I'm going ta take a few of yer classes and then I'll be tha best realizer you ever seen, I told you that I could be!"

"Well, I guess Giselle will be out quite a familiar then," I say watching her carefully. Her expression doesn't even shift.

"What's she goin' ta need one fer anyway, teachin's not so hard," Arbol grins.

"Unless of course I find myself needing to burn all of my wayward students to a more compliant black crisp," Giselle says with an alarmingly straight face. "Arbol, why don't you go see if Gural needs anything?"

Arbol shrugs, and with a wink and a flash he's gone. Show-off.

"The potion seems to be working if your levels of troublesome are anything to judge by," Giselle gives me a look. "Does anything in particular hurt?"

"Nothing important," I say dismissively. Sinking sullenly back into my pillow now that there is no one left to play "Princess" for.

"Oh?" she raises an eyebrow and gives my ribs just the slightest of prods.

I cringe and groan, but shake my head, "Like I said, nothing important."

"Well, if there's nothing I can do then-"

"She was your daughter, wasn't she?" I look her straight in the eye.

She sighs and leans against the table. "Yes," she purses her lip and looks away, "Yes, she was."

Silence.

"What was her name?"

"Cecil... May I- How was she?"

I pause. What do I say? That she was all kinds of insane, potentially homicidal, and she blamed her mother for all of it? I watch Giselle, staring grimly at the floor and expecting the worst from me.

"Bitter," I say honestly. "And the burns were hers," I motion to my shoulders and face. "But she probably saved my life." I think back to the tales, "Probably a few times. She... she was kind of messed up, but she was still trying to do right."

"I see," she sighs, still looking down.

"So, do I get to hear your version of the story?" I ask carefully.

She shakes her head, "I imagine you've pieced together all of the events," she finally looks up at me. I shrug. "My actions speak for themselves, and no amount of hidden motivations, good intentions, or excuses will change that. I did... what I thought was best for the time."

I nod. I know better than to argue.

"But thank you... Princess."

Silence.

I stare at the white ceilings and frown, because now that the happy, smiling mask is gone I don't know how to-

"Oh just ask, or I am going to leave," Giselle snaps, answering my thoughts.

I bite my lip and close my eyes. "Donovan?" I ask.

"... I'm sorry."

My heart stops and my breath catches in my chest. The world must have stopped because what reason could it possibly come up with to keep going? Numbness seeps into my mind like ice water through cracks because I feel like reality has broken. It's wrong. Everything is just all wrong!

And I won't stand for it.

"He's not dead," the words come out of my mouth before I even think them, but as soon a I do, I know it to be true.

"Elle, he never came back, which can only suggest-"

"I don't care what it suggests!" I shout, "Send me back!"

"Elle, the curse is broken and crumbling if it even still exists." Giselle says slowly as if talking to an excitable child, "It could trap you there forever, it could tear your mind apart, and that's only if you are still alive. Don't be-"

"What? Don't be stupid? I assure you, I have been stupid for far too long."I throw back the sheets and try to lean off the bed. "Now either you curse me back in or I will go do it myself! I was stupid enough to do it before, and I think I have just enough stupid to do it again!"

My cast hits the ground and with a groan I nearly fall back onto the bed. I grit my teeth and ease my weight onto shaky feet, leaning heavily on the bed. Just like Little Mermaid, I tell myself.

"You'd kill yourself in this state! You can't possibly-"

"Try me," my voice like steel as I stare her down.

She looks at me with pity now. "He's- You have to accept-"

"Curse that! I am a Realizer and a Princess and a Great Big Cursed Hero, and I am going to get my Happy Ending!"

The setting is fragile and fuzzy, the most basic sort of grassy hill and blue sky that you can imagine, and I think bits of the sky keep blinking out anyway.

I am tied to a large wooden pole, which is fine, because I don't think I could really stand on my own anyway.

Oh, and there's a dragon standing over me, trying to decide if I am worth the effort of cooking. Wouldn't want to forget that one.

The dragon roars and I just raise an eyebrow. After what I have been through, an over-sized lizard that looks like it was designed by a five-year-old is supposed to scare me?

I look up because suddenly I hear the clopping of hooves and clank of armor. There, glinting in what might be called sunlight if I could actually find a sun, stands a knight in blindingly white armor on an equally white horse.

He leaps off his horse and charges at the dragon, sword drawn. With two swipes the dragon lets out a squawk and flaps off like a discontented fat goose.

The knight strides over, sheathing his sword, and all the while I just have a big stupid smile on my face because I have been trying not to laugh this entire time.

He pulls off his helmet and tosses it aside, "I believe someone called for a White Knight rescue?" Donovan winks.

I break out laughing. "You planned that whole 'grand' entrance," I accuse, still smiling because I don't think I could stop if I had wanted to.

"Maybe," he shrugs.

"Let me guess, the magic seems to think that you are in charge now?" I question.

"Funny thing that," he moves right up in front of me and reaches around to untie the ropes. "Here I thought, you were supposed to be getting us out of the curse. Instead, not only do you almost take out my kidneys, but rather than some very passionate earth-shattering kissing for a reward, which I do believe I was promised, I find myself staring at a glowing pink puddle. Now what do you have to say for that?" he asks as he pulls the final knot.

"Oww!" I cry as my weight falls back on my legs and I nearly crumple to the ground if not for Donovan to hold me up. I regain my composure and look him right in eye. "Firstly, it is not my fault that you were too slow getting out. Secondly, you will not let me think you are dead ever ever again or-"

"Or what? You'll kill me yourself?"

"I'll start charging fees for your rescue,"I raise my chin defiantly.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, and I don't come cheap! Thirdly, I do not believe I specified the manner of the kissing, much less with those particular adjectives," I say dryly.

"Oh, it will be," he grins.

"Just shut up and kiss me," and I grab his collar and pull him in.

And whether it was True Love's Kiss or not, it was exactly what I wanted.

Oh, and he was right.

**A big thanks to Clar the Pirate, who, in putting up with my jokes that I might just kill off Donovan for kicks and giggles, accidentally inspired that end. I am much more satisfied (Or at least as satisfied as I am going to be) with it than just the boring old "I'm sorry *dramatic pause* he wanted to be here when you woke up but he was all busy and stuff" that I was originally planning. If I may say, Challenge Completed.**


	71. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

**Well, that's it folks. It seems ridiculous that this is finished. It's been almost five years since I started writing. Dear Grimm, how did you all put up with me for so long? **

**It would seem that somewhere along the half-assed plots, forgotten characters, and twists that even I didn't see coming, I wrote a story. **

**Weird. **

**You know, these last few months, as the end of the novel loomed hazily in the distance, I found myself wondering why in the world these crazy people were still reading this mess of a story. Not only reading it, but wanting me to update, worrying about the characters, and using words to describe it that got me wondering if I had learned the definition of "awesome" and "love" wrong. **

**To those kind ones of you about to protest: I am not being modest, I am being honest.**

**While I wrote these last bunch of chapters, I realized that I was missing something that I got when reading a book or even while writing this story four years back. I was missing the excitement and the magic and that extra sense of depth inherent in any story. **

**My problem was that I knew. I knew exactly what was left. I knew the extent of the character development that had gone in. I knew that a happy ending was on the way no matter how dire the situation may seem. I knew exactly how many twists and scenes were held together with little more than duct tape and rubberbands all precariously balanced with a dwindling helping of sarcasm. And everything I knew made it boring.**

**That was sort of when I realized that it didn't really matter what I knew, because once I posted a chapter all that mattered was what you, my lovely readers, knew. **

**I have always believed that classic books and famous poems were not about what the author wanted to say, but the emotions that they evoked in the readers. The author or poet could use all sorts of tricks and word play to guide the reader, but in the end, each reader would take it a little bit differently. Each reader had a whole lifetime worth of experiences and knowledge that would alter the story to be whatever they wanted it to be! But the really neat thing that I finally realized was that it applied to everything, even my flimsy, patched up excuse for a story. I realized that everyone else hadn't shared my drawn out torture of forcing one word after another onto the page, and so to them, it looked like I had even the slightest idea what I was doing. They could find that extra depth in the story that I had lost. **

**I was actually rather hesitant to share with you all my little two cents (Take it how you will), because it meant that everyone would know exactly what kind of literary genius I was not (Though I am certain that all you brilliant people noticed anyway since I write like I talk, and I talk like think, and that often ends up as a complete mess with English grammar bastardized for my own malignant uses). But I figured that, it was not fair to keep my thoughts to myself in this case. First, because I like being a bumbling goof, and I like people to know that. Second, because everyone should know that if I, bumbling goof that I am, can bother together a moderately popular story by having absolutely no clue what I was doing other than having fun and writing something that I wanted to read, then literally anyone can. That is the magic of writing. Experiment, dress it up nice, have fun, and have faith that fun is contagious and that most people would rather focus on that than look for all the holes you missed.**

**I learned a lot from writing this story. Mostly that I actually DO have to put effort in if I hope to improve, and that, yes, I have a LOT of things that need improving. I grew a bit as a writer, got to do lots of fun experiments with style, and gained a lot of confidence, but when I look back at the first chapters of this story- I cringe. **

**For those of you hoping that I will go back and fix it: I won't. I have taken everything that I could get out of writing this and I am moving on to the next thing. For those of you wondering what the next thing is: I have no idea. Well, not completely true. I have several ideas, vague ideas with no clue where they are going, which is exactly how I like them! I might even switch medias and try my hand at a comic. I will probably not be starting anything long and new for a while, I need a break! I'll probably finish up White Bird and write some one-shots that have been floating about my head for a while. Then... whatever the next fun thing ends up being! **

**Thank you all again! This story would have fallen flat on its face about a hundred times over if not for you and your limitless kindness and support. Happy writing!**


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